


To Reach Divinity

by CyberPhoenix



Category: Miitopia (Video Game)
Genre: Entirely OC cast - Freeform, Gen, Multi, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-30 22:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12118764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberPhoenix/pseuds/CyberPhoenix
Summary: It's been a while since the evils threatening Miitopia were defeated, and peace returned to the land. A band of heroes, led by the thief Asuka, still spend their time helping people and exploring the world. But something else has begun. Adventurers are going missing, whether they be heroes or mere travelers, with no trace remaining. Just who is behind the disappearances, and will THESE heroes be able to find them, and stop them, before they too become just another missing face (or ten?)





	1. Meet The Teams!

Meet the Teams! Team Supershine

Asuka  
A young thief who set off for a new life, and soon had to change her plans when she got thrown into adventure and heroism. A peppy girl with a fragile resolve, Asuka is loyal to her friends and likes to go with the flow, but can be overly clingy and gets very attached to those she cares about. She also has a tendency to flirt with danger… both figuratively and literally, much to everyone else’s chagrin. She has red hair, bright green eyes, and rosy cheeks, and is a very short but bubbly young lady.

Rikuto  
This young man met Asuka a little ways away from the town of Greenhorne, rushing in to help her in the midst of a tough fight. He healed her up quickly, and after all was said and done, happily joined her on her quest. Extroverted and compassionate, Rikuto can be a bit of a doormat to his more driven friends, but he doesn’t mind much. He strives to help the world, and his main philosophy is to live for making others happy. The orange haired cleric always has a bright look in his yellow eyes, and despite his tall stature, tries to always appear gentle and unintimidating.

Francine  
A fierce warrior with a short temper, Francine takes the role of “hero” a bit too seriously, always ready to fight and quick to judge. Despite her aggressive attitude, she’s highly protective and very caring when it comes to her friends and allies, and gets flustered easily whenever she’s complimented. When it comes down to it, she likes to be strong and fight for her friends and for what she believes in, no matter how hard it may get sometimes. She wears a slightly rusted helmet over her bobbed londe hair, her dark grey eyes distinct on her pale, slightly freckled skin. She's the tallest of the four of team Supershine, and she likes it that way.

Kazuo  
Intelligence doesn’t always equal smarts, and that is painfully evident in this mage’s life. Kazuo, for all his wide array of magical knowledge and strategy, is a gullible, quick-to-trust young man with a tendency to fall too quickly in and out of relationships. When he first joined Team Supershine, his joy at becoming a part of an adventuring group ended up leading to many overenthusiastic spells and far too much singed clothes. Numerous apologies and sheepish promises to “watch where you point that wand”, he’s made himself a home and family in the team as the “when all else fails, zap it” guy. That, and between the two girls of Supershine, the “totally has a crush on Rikuto” guy. His messy blue hair is typically covered by a large-brimmed hat, which he sometimes pulls down over his face when he gets embarrassed, almost hanging down past his olive glasses.

 

Meet the Teams! Team Chaotix

Asuka  
Shaken into a new job and burdened from the shock of losing her first three friends, Asuka’s demeanor shifts to a bit more careless, and a bit less reliant on others. With her new job of a cat, a mischievous side of Asuka tends to slip out. Hence, her relationships with Team Chaotix are wild and impulsive, built upon the spontaneity of life and adventure.

Katsuye  
A spunky pop star with an arrogant sense of self, Katsuye has a standoffish demeanor. She sometimes casts the attitude aside when with her friends, as she truly does care for them, and tries not to be as harsh and dishonest as she is with outsiders. She’s highly self-conscious of her image, both as an adventurer and as a person, and isn’t afraid to bash some monsters to keep it up. When it comes down to it, Katsuye really enjoys adventuring with her friends, but is too afraid to drop her “cool” façade to just truly relax when out and about. She keeps her lavender hair prim and pretty whenever she's able, as well as keeping her makeup pristine, such as blue eyeshadow to contrast her magenta irises.

Melanie  
This mischievous but absent-minded imp lives as she fights, confusedly, uncomfortably for others, and often times upsetting her teammates. It’s no surprise that Melanie coined the name “Chaotix” for the team, as she embodies most of what makes the team, well, chaotic. Messing with the others in a way that could be considered borderline obnoxious, it’s sometimes a wonder why Melanie still is allowed to stick around. However, as much of the prankster she may be, she is still fairly dependable, and almost as much of a cheerleader for the team as Katsuye wishes she was. Her pixie cut blonde hair sometimes falls in front of her bright green eyes, 

Monica  
The self-declared “grandma” of Team Chaotix (due to being the oldest of the three by a mere twelve days), Monica is a giggly, easily entertained chef with a thirst for the unknown. She likes to experiment with recipes, solutions to puzzles, hairstyles, and ways to say “good morning.” She also has a tendency to try to tag along on any quest she can, no matter who is or isn’t involved. Despite all her seemingly apparent shortcomings, she has a knack for being able to comfort the others when they’re in need, and soothing old woes with explanations and hugs of forgiveness. She's sort of the opposite to Katsuye in terms of hair and eye color, sporting bright pink messy hair, usually tied up in a ponytail, and deep purple eyes. 

 

Meet the Teams! Team Sibwings

Asuka  
Sick of the Dark Lord kidnapping her friends, the now-flower girl is determined to do whatever it takes to defeat the evil that has plagued her precious world. Her resolve has strengthened, and she’s become much more serious, while still being casual with her teammates. But a lot was at stake when she first took on the job, and she can never fully shake that fear and caution that are so deeply rooted within her.

Natsuki  
The oldest of the “Sibwings”, this princess is a quiet, ice cold woman, with a tendency to want to help rather than hurt. However, as the oldest of the three “Sibwings”, she holds herself responsible for them and their actions, and will defend them to the bitter end. She’s the wisest of the three, but in that form, also does the least with what she knows, preferring to let life and times go as they please rather than interfere. She has icy blue hair and eyes, and usually dresses her wardrobe to match.

Akiko  
The middle child of the “Sibwings”, the fiery scientist keeps her head in a fight but isn’t afraid to lose it. Akiko is a very rational person, and from that, can sometime be rather blunt. She tries to take a more logical approach to situations, rather than trying to save face or feelings, but she also cares very much for the wellbeing of others. She likes things to be fair, equal, and more or less sensible whenever they can be, even if that means healing someone who didn’t need much healing in the first place “because it was their turn to be helped”. She has poofy auburn hair, and orange eyes circled with red glasses. She likes to dress in a more traditionally masculine fashion, but doesn't consider it so.

Haruko  
The youngest of the “Sibwings”, Haruko is a sparky young tank, with some skittish tendencies. She is easily frightened, and carries her pink Snurp plush wherever she goes. Sensitive but hyperactive, she sometimes gets into trouble from her own obliviousness. She looks up to her sisters (and to the other teams as if they were her older siblings), as the youngest of all ten adventurers, but she can still hold her own if she’s ever in trouble on her lonesome. She has light green hair and yellow eyes, and happily huddles in her matching yellow tank frame.


	2. Inn-Decency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a beautiful new day at one of the numerous inns, and our hero, Asuka, decides to take a moment of peace and quiet for herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this and the before chapters are just a bit of setup and exposition, as you can see. Things get pretty heavy from here on out, and if you didn't read the tag, this takes place post-game. In such, there will be heavy spoilers for the ending of Miitopia!

“It’s not easy being the savior of a world. At least, that’s what I always imagined. Life is… pretty chill, if I say so myself. Let me explain. My name is Asuka, and my friends and I aren’t exactly the only heroes this side of Neksdor. Sure, we do good things and we kinda… defeated more than one instance of the “Dark Lord”, but when it comes down to it, we’re just normal adventurers.”

“Though perhaps not, if our situation is anything to go by.”

She woke up that day to peace and quiet. It was just the sun filtering through the window, into the room, the sound of birds outside flitting about. She blinked slowly, rubbing her eyes. Stretching her arms up, she sighed happily. It was a nice day. Seemed everything was alright, perhaps even better than it usually was.

The silence of the inn was a welcome sound, no silly arguments or obnoxious giggling that tended to fill the long nights after a quest. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy talking to her friends, that wasn’t the case… rather, that it just got a bit tedious to keep going without a full night of sleep.

It wasn’t often that she got to stay back at the inn for an adventure, save for when she got sick. As the more-or-less implied leader of the group, it was her job to guide and supervise her friends when needed.

Asuka slumped out of bed, giving a slight wave to the other bed; where their resident warrior, Francine, had been sleeping; and made her way down to the dining hall to see if anyone else was up for breakfast. Team Supershine had snagged some nice grub the day before, and Asuka was raring to dig in to the assortments of sandwiches, sundaes, and even a few handfuls of marshmallows.

She was a huge fan of sweets, but there was always heavy competition for how the meals got split up amongst themselves, so it had settled to “first come, first served.” After filling her plate with goodies, she sat down at the table and waited. She felt it was only polite to wait for everyone else to get ready… and besides, that way she could gloat about what she got.

As she waited, she rested her elbows on the table and leaned her head into her hands. She wasn’t usually the first one up… but fighting the dragon yesterday had taken its toll on everyone, so maybe it was just fatigue. Yeah, that was probably it. Kazuo had been at the end of his MP, Rikuto had been healing everyone up as fast as he could manage, and Francine had nearly dulled her sword with how much she slashed at the beast.

As for the other teams, Chaotix was having what they called a “girl’s night out”, which to her knowledge had just consisted of camping out while Monica made skewers, staying in the Wayward Woods until sunset. As for the Sibwings, Haruko had finally realized the name similarities between her favorite food and her beloved plush Snurp, and the princess and scientist had spent the whole day consoling their younger sister’s sobs.

Though, even if they all were tired, there was no reason they’d sleep in… this… long? Asuka drummed her fingers on the table, humming softly as she continued to wait. It felt like five, then ten, and then thirty minutes passed. Soon, she was barely able to keep herself to stop from drooling over her plate of food. ‘Maybe a quick nibble won’t hurt…’ She thought, picking at the marshmallows.

Over the course of the next few minutes, she took small bites of her food, every so often glancing over at the entryway, awaiting her friends. By the time she mopped up the last few crumbs left, she knew something was horribly wrong.

Standing up from her seat, she rushed back to her room. Opening the door and turning to Francine’s bed, she mentally kicked herself for not noticing earlier that her friend wasn’t asleep, wasn’t even there at all. Running down and throwing open the doors to the other rooms; she became increasingly panicked with every empty bed.

As the dreaded truth of her friends’ disappearance became apparent, she felt her legs give out from under her. She stared at the floor, tears forming in her eyes. It was happening again. They had won, they had defeated the evil, and yet… and yet it was happening again.

She was alone, and this time…

…she had no idea what she was fighting.


	3. As If It Were Yesterday

“Hey, hey Asuka, wake up!” Someone was shaking her. She rolled to her side, not wanting to wake up. “Asuka, c’mon. You know we have a quest to take care of today.” The voice reminded. She only groaned in response. “Asuka, if you don’t get up, I will slap the sleep out of you.” At those words, the thief reluctantly blinked her eyes open.

“Morning, Francine…” She smiled gratefully at her friend, who gave her a look.

“This is why you gotta stop staying up so late, y’know. You’re never ready in time…” The warrior scoffed, standing up straight and crossing her arms, flipping her blonde bangs out of her face. 

“Breakfast is ready. I think the sisters already ate…” A loud wail erupted from the dining hall. Francine put a hand to her forehead. “Oh great. Something’s up.”

“Let’s go fix things, shall we?” Asuka grinned, getting out of bed. Francine just shook her head, giving a slight laugh.

“You know ‘us fixing things’ just means you enforcing your authority and me backing you up so the others feel bad or intimidated. That’s why Monica’s our team therapist, basically…”

“Well, that’s… yeah… yeah I guess you’re right.” She shrugged. “I still wanna find out what’s up… besides, aren’t you hungry?”

“Of course I am, I was waiting to see if you’d wake up naturally. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for you, even if it means I have to put up with eating more turkey curry…” Francine turned, walking towards the door. “Just cause it’s your favorite, doesn’t mean the others have to eat everything except it, when we already have plenty of it leftover…”

“You never know when those leftovers could run out, I like a backup stock!” Asuka said, following behind. As they reached the dining hall, the source of the crying was evident. Haruko was sobbing, face-down on the table, with Natsuki and Akiko on either side of her, seemingly trying to console her.

“Haruko, you know Snurps are monsters. We all knew this.” Akiko was saying.

“Don’t feel bad, Haru, it’s not your Snurpie, it’s other Snurps! No one’s gonna eat Snurpie.” Natsuki was speaking over Akiko.

“I thought the radishes were Snurp food! That means Snurpie’s a cannibal!” The tank sobbed, her pink monster plush abandoned behind her on the floor. Francine held back by the doorway, as Asuka walked cautiously up to the trio.

“Everything alright here?” She asked, knowing full well it wasn’t, but still hoping. Akiko just leaned forward to give the thief a glare.

“Obviously not, ‘ruko here just realized what Snurp Radish is made out of.” The scientist huffed. “She won’t listen to reason, either…”

“I mean, it’s a rather traumatizing realization…” Natsuki noted, adjusting her tiara before putting an arm around her youngest sister. “But, hey, it’s gonna be alright, you know that.” She looked behind, at Asuka. “It might take the day, but she’ll get over it. We might be busy helping her get through it here, so the quest will have to be with some of the others.”

“A-alright…” Asuka turned and sidled away, walking over to the food storage and picking out some grub. She wasn’t too hungry right now, but she’d keep it ready in case she needed anything. “In that case…” She walked back over to Francine. “Were you planning on joining the search for that rare monster?”

“Well, yeah. Rare monster means a strong enemy, right? You know I love to challenge myself. I’d go on that quest alone if you’d let me!” She joked.

“Alright, glad you’re in… I’ll go see if any of the other girls wanna tag along, I think today might be the day that Kazuo’s gonna confess, so if we leave him and Rikuto alone for some privacy…~” She smirked.

“Of course, wouldn’t want those two lovebirds getting all mushy during the battle!” Francine laughed. “Besides, it’s been forever since I’ve fought alongside Melanie and Katsuye… Monica, I love ‘er, she makes great food, but it’s always too darn spicy…”

“You’re just too used to Rikuto’s magic healin’ you up, that’s all.” She stuck her tongue out. “You like plain food, ‘cause you’ve got too much fire already!”

“Asuka-! You’re not wrong, but ouch, ouch.” Francine put a hand to her heart in mock offense. “You wound me, my friend.”

“The evil has been defeated.” Asuka grinned, gently reaching up to boop Francine’s nose. “Tah-dah!”

Francine gasped, before devolving into giggles. “You’re a real nutcase sometimes, you know that?”

“Comes with the job.” She grinned, before waving goodbye and heading out of the kitchen. She walked down to the room where she last heard Monica and Melanie were staying. “Knock knock~!” She said in a singsong voice, softly knocking on the door. “You two up?”

The sound of hurried thumping footsteps neared the door, and it swung open to reveal Monica, her hot pink hair messy and without her hat. “M-mornin’ leader!” She stammered. “What’s up?”

“You, obviously.” Asuka joked. “What I was gonna ask was if you knew if any of the rest of Team Chaotix wanted to join Francine and I on that monster hunt?” She knew Monica would volunteer in a heartbeat, but she also knew that Monica had a penchant for dragging the imp and pop star into things alongside her. To her surprise, the chef hesitated, a pensive look on her face.

“Well, you see I’d normally be all for that, but Melanie, Katsuye, and I; we were planning on heading out to the Wayward Woods today? We’re gonna go camping!” She cheered.

“Camping, huh? Was that your idea?”

“No, it was actually Katsuye’s. She said she owed Melanie and I for all we put up with her… I don’t get what she meant by it, but I’m always up for a good hang out with friends, so I wasn’t gonna question it.” Monica shrugged.

“Oh, huh. Well, guess this quest’s a job for good ol’ Supershine…” Asuka mumbled, waving a hand. “You guys have fun today, alright? Tell Melanie and Katsuye I said good morning and hi, I’m gonna go talk to the guys.”

“I’ll tell them you said praise the sun and greetings.” Monica said, waving back. Asuka rolled her eyes, and walked back down the hall towards another room. The door was open, and Kazuo was sitting on his bed, his head rested in his hands.

“Hey, Kazuo, my man, my main man, what’s the long face for?” Asuka said, skipping into the room. “Where’s good ol’ Riku?”

“Out for a quick morning walk.” Kazuo sighed, not looking up.

“Alright… so what’s up with you, man? You look like you just got some bad news.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just…” He looked up, turning to Asuka. “So, I… I saw Francine give Rikuto a present yesterday. It was a pretty necklace… he seemed to love it, and he said he’d cherish it forever.”

“So? Ain’t it good the guy gets a little appreciation for all he does for us?”

“Yeah, I guess, but I just… I’m worried he likes Francine more than he likes me. That I’ve got no shot with him, not even if Haruko stuffed me in that cannon of hers.” He sniffed, rubbing tears away from his eyes.  
“Hey, hey…” Asuka said, walking over to her friend. “Francine just gave him a gift, that’s all. Doesn’t make what you and him already have friendship-wise any less important to him. Besides, if you wanna know if you’ve got a shot with him, why don’t you just ask? You know, I heard what you said back… back in the Otherworld. You still haven’t told him, despite your promise.”

“…yeah, I… I just don’t want to make things awkward, you know? He’s really important to me, and I care about him so much…” He buried his face in his hands again.

“Kazuo. Look at me.” He didn’t look up. “Hey. Kazuo. I’m serious. Just look at me.” He slowly raised his head to stare hopelessly at Asuka. “Rikuto is a really nice guy. You know this, I know this, we all know this. Even if he doesn’t accept your feelings or return them… that’s not gonna change anything in his mind. Is it gonna change anything in yours?”

Kazuo thought for a moment, and then slowly shook his head. “If he turns me down… I’ll get over it.”

“Then what’s the harm in getting it over with? You’re not gonna spend the rest of your life waiting for him to make the first move, are you?”

“…I suppose that’s not the best approach, is it?”

“Of course it’s not. Now, hey. When he gets back from his walk, I want you to tell him how you feel. Alright? After that, we’re headed out on a quest. Sound like a plan?”

“Yeah… yeah, sounds… sounds like a plan. Thanks, ‘suka.”

“No prob’, mage guy. I’m gonna go get ready.” Asuka turned, leaving the room. Those two were always such a mess to juggle, with Kazuo getting all choked up about his feelings, and Rikuto being too oblivious to notice them. Asuka gave a sigh as she headed back to the room she and Francine had shared for the night, starting to get her gear ready. As much as she loved her friends, she sometimes really wished she could just take a break from it all…  
\-------------  
“Alright, we’re headed out!” Asuka said, waving to Natsuki and Akiko, who had come to see the four off. Melanie, Monica, and Katsuye had already left for their camping trip, and Haruko was sleeping off her sorrow for the time being.

“Stay safe, you guys!” Natsuki said.

“If it gets too rough, don’t push yourself too hard!” Akiko said.

“Will do!” Rikuto said, giving two thumbs up. The cleric looked rather refreshed when he returned from his morning walk, and Asuka didn’t really notice any change in his demeanor. She’d have to ask Kazuo about it once they got moving… but now wasn’t the time. The four adventurers set off, and their quest begun.  
\-------------  
“Kazuo, look out-!” Rikuto yelled, as the dragon reared up, slashing its claws down where Kazuo had just stood a moment ago.

“Thanks, Rikuto!” The mage responded, having stepped back a short distance to avoid the attack.

“Now it’s my turn!” Francine shouted, leaping at the dragon and slicing at its underbelly. It roared in pain and anger. “Take that!”

“Nice job, Francine!” Rikuto cheered, to which the warrior blushed slightly. Kazuo’s expression darkened just a tad, and Asuka noticed, biting her lip with worry.

“I’m next!” She said, trying to distract Kazuo from his jealousy.

“Wait just a moment!” Kazuo said, rushing over to her. “Let me help… enlarge weapon!” Asuka grinned as her dagger became more like a sword in size, and she hefted it up to bring it down on the dragon’s leg.

“Thanks, Kaz!” She said, as the dagger reduced back to its normal size.

“Here we go…” Kazuo said, holding his wand in front of him.

“Hey, I’ll help!” Asuka said, channeling a bit of magic.

“Same here!” Francine piped up.

“Me too!” Rikuto chimed in.

“Alright… hah-! Tower of Flame!” Kazuo shouted, as fire erupted from the ground underneath the dragon and it gave an ear-splitting roar.

“Great job… anyone need healing?” Rikuto asked, giving a slight wave of his staff. “Panacea!” The friendly glow of healing magic surrounded the party, and the other three nodded gratefully.

“Get ready…” Asuka muttered, taking a defensive stance as the dragon reared back up to attack. This time, it let out a wave of fire, the burns hissing against Francine’s armor, rushing around Kazuo’s barrier, and Rikuto and Asuka just barely managed to avoid getting their clothes alight, but the damage was already done. However, it wasn’t over just yet, as the dragon quickly swiped out with its claws, knocking Rikuto down. He gave a sharp grunt of pain, and it looked like he was ready to pass out. The dragon then let out a roar, right in Francine’s face, and she trembled from the sheer force of it.

“Oh no!” Asuka exclaimed, digging through her pockets. “Crap, I think we’re out of sprinkles… hold on, you guys!” She ran over to Francine, shoving her roughly behind the group. “Get over it, Francine! We need you back in!” Francine only nodded weakly, slowly recovering from her fear and shock. Asuka then ran over to the dragon, giving it a strong slice. It roared, and looked very much like it was weakened… but would Kazuo be enough to take it down, or was he better off giving Rikuto a rest…?

“I’m on damage; we need to take this thing out now!” Kazuo decided, starting a spell again.

“I’ll help!” Asuka shouted.

“M…m-me too…!” Rikuto said, breathing heavily.

“Tower of Flame!” Kazuo said, casting the spell again. The fire surrounded the dragon, and it seemed it was going to all work out… but as the flames died down, the dragon was still standing.

Rikuto let out a gasp, and then scrambled to cast a healing spell. “Gh-! I don’t have enough mana…” He exclaimed weakly.

“I’m out of candies!” Asuka said, turning out her empty pockets.

“Here, I packed an extra!” Kazuo said, rushing over. “Take it, Rikuto…”

“Th-thanks, Kazuo.” He smiled gratefully, but hesitated. “Wait, no, keep it. I don’t think I’ll have enough time to get my mana back and still heal myself… well, let’s just hope this is enough…” He turned away, casting a spell. “C-cure.” He muttered, letting the golden magic wrap around him. He was able to stand up now, but it wasn’t much better.

The dragon let out a wounded roar, attacking Asuka with its claws. She hissed in pain, reeling from the blow, but still standing. It then turned back to Rikuto, swooping down again to attack him. His eyes widened, and he braced himself for the impact, closing his eyes.

Instead of pain, he heard rushed footsteps, then a quiet whimper. He opened his eyes, gasping as he saw Kazuo take the hit for him. “Wh-what are you doing?” He exclaimed, rushing over as the dragon finished the attack and the mage fell to the ground. “Kazuo- Kazuo, why did you…?”

“G-gotta keep you safe, man… you’re my best friend.”

“But Kazuo, that doesn’t mean-“  
“It’s not just that… it’s also ‘c-cause I love you.” He smiled weakly, before closing his eyes and blacking out.

“I- I love you too, you dork…” Rikuto choked out, before standing up and glaring at the dragon. He rushed forward, adrenaline fueling anger as he swung his staff at the dragon. “This is for Kazuo, you sad excuse for a lizard!” He hit the dragon as hard as he could, and it roared again, before finally collapsing. The face that had sat on its head lifted off, and flew away.

“W-we did it!” Asuka cheered.

Francine took a shaky breath as she walked back to the group. “Yeah… we s-sure did…”  
Rikuto, meanwhile, had gone back to sitting next to Kazuo, a strong blush on his cheeks. “Let’s get him healed up.” He murmured.

“Heroic sacrifice of love… what a cheesy way to confess.” Francine joked.

“No kidding, he could’ve handled that better.” Asuka agreed.

“H-hey! It was really sweet, alright?” Rikuto said, as he ate the candy and healed up Kazuo. The mage woke up slowly, rubbing his head.

“D-did we win?” He murmured, before remembering what he did and blushing. “Rikuto, I’m-“ He was cut off as the cleric gave him a big hug.

“I love you too, my hero.” Rikuto said, giving a laugh. Kazuo just froze in shock, before slowly returning the hug.

“Dorks.” Asuka laughed. “Let’s go back to the inn and get some rest.”  
\---------------  
“What a long day…” Francine muttered, leaning back on her bed.

“I’m glad Chaotix had fun on their trip… even if they had that whole cactus deal.” Asuka said with a sigh.

“Well, I’m glad Haruko got over her Snurp addiction. At least, when it comes to protecting them. I mean, they run away all the time, so between her being reluctant to hurt them, and Rikuto being the kind soul he is and sparing them… for goodness sakes, it’s not like they’re endangered or anything…”

Asuka laughed. “More experience, gold, and food for all of us, then.”

“I’m gonna… pass out. Dragons are no joke... they’re mean things.” Francine murmured, rolling onto her face.  
“Tell that to Dominic.” Asuka smiled, resting on her side.

“As a matter of fact, I will. Or did you forget I had to hold onto his tail when he was flying us around?”

“You got that spot for a reason.~” Asuka muttered.

“Whatever… just get a good night’s rest, alright ‘Suka?”

“You too, Francine. You too.” Asuka said, quickly drifting off into a dreamless, silent sleep.  
\--------------  
Asuka sighed, standing up from where she had let herself mope about for far too long. This was no time to get all nostalgic and bittersweet and definitely not the time to give up. She was a hero, after all, when it came down to it. Helping people was what she did.  
If she was going to get her friends back, she needed to get some other ones to help her. Maybe she’d stop by the castle, or maybe the Elven Retreat… New Lumos was also a possibility… though Neksdor was also on the table… well, either way; it was time for another adventure to begin.


	4. Going Bananas

 

“Goooood morning, sleepyheads-!” So, it seemed Kaela was an early bird. The fairy shook her two companions awake rather gently. Asuka groaned and wished for more sleep, while Francis quietly woke up and wished for death. At least the genie wasn't around, else that adventure would have ended a lot sooner than expected. The bright sun shone harshly through the thin blinds covering the window, and as the trio slowly got up and got ready, Francis seemed to be visibly recoiling from the light.

“Too bright…” he mumbled, dragging his hat down over his eyes as he slumped out of bed. He was still shirtless, much to Asuka’s chagrin and Kaela’s amusement. 

“Put on a shirt, you hobo-!” The thief snapped, throwing his now-dry cotton shirt at his face. Francis caught it, blinking confusedly before he remembered the prior events. His face reddened, and he pulled on the shirt quickly. He went to grab his coat, but at a glare from Kaela, resorted to just wrapping it around his waist.

“So, what’s the plan today…” He murmured. Asuka just grabbed Kaela and Francis’ hands, one in each of hers, and dragged them off to the dining hall.

“First, breakfast!” She chirped. “We need to start the day off right-!” She slid into the room, letting go of her captives as she skipped over to the pantry. She swung the door open… and her heart sank. It was empty. “...right, I… forgot to replenish the stock.” She regretted her prior binging on the leftover food, eating to cope was just another of those unfortunate habits she had.

“So first, not breakfast.” Francis huffed, glancing over her shoulder at the lack of food. “Oh well.” He took off his hat, and pulled a banana out of it. Putting the hat back on, he unpeeled the banana and casually munched on it. Kaela stared at him in confusion.

“Did you just-” The fairy spluttered, honestly confused. Francis just gave her a shrug.

“Le’s go.” He said, mouth full. Kaela made a slight face, before turning away and walking off to the inn’s entrance. Francis followed, while Asuka was still staring, dumbfounded, at the empty pantry. She then promptly turned, and ran to catch up.

Walking out of the inn, Asuka led the duo out a bit from the town, before whistling for Dominic. After a minute, the dragon appeared on the horizon, landing in front of them again.

“Why couldn’t he have taken us  _ to _ the town, again-?” Francis grumbled, still finishing up the banana.

“If you saw a dragon coming toward your town without explanation, you’d be freaked out, too.” Asuka noted. “We’re headed to Greenhorne castle, that sound good, Dom-?” The dragon nodded, bowing his head to let the riders on.

“I’ve never been to a castle before…” Francis murmured, hugging tightly to the horn after they’d gotten prepared and the dragon had lifted back off into the sky.

“I mean, not as yourself, you have. You’ve been to plenty when Maiche was tagging along for the ride!” Asuka said, nudging him. He looked at her, bewildered.

“Then wait, is this a good idea?” He said, panic rising in his voice.

“Probably not.” Kaela noted, giggling. Francis just cringed a little, rethinking his existence in the matter of a few moments.

Dominic swooped down toward the wayward woods, giving a slight stumble with his landing. “I’m not used to flying around here,” he explained.

“That’s alright!” Asuka said, giving a gentle pat to his scales as she slid off of his neck. Francis and Kaela followed suit, and the cool grass of the ground welcomed their steps. “Stay in the area, if you please, we shouldn’t be gone more than a day or two, I think.” The dragon nodded, and the trio set off into the woods.

They hadn’t been walking long, the sun filtering through the dense canopy a gentle heat on their backs, when Francis tripped over a particularly large vine that had skittered across the forest floor. He hit the ground with a thump, grunting in surprise. “Ow-”

“Francis, are you alright?” Kaela turned to help him up, and he gratefully took her hand to help lift him back onto his feet. As her back was turned, however, she didn’t spot the shadow that loomed over her. Francis yelped in fear, and Asuka, only a few feet ahead, shrieked as a Venus Mii Trap leaned down and snapped her up. 

The redhead flailed within the sticky, moist bulb of the plant, pounding on the bulbous insides with her fists. “Lemme out-!” She hollered, ripping her dagger into the soft flesh of the plant. 

Back in the outside world, Kaela was already drawing another arrow as Francis huddled on the ground, useless. “Spit her out, you overgrown weed!” He shouted, hands over his head incase it went to attack him. 

“Let her go!” Kaela yelled, letting another arrow fly. It struck the writhing bulb, which tensed at the impact. It opened slightly, and Asuka’s struggling arms reached out toward the two, before the petals snapped shut again. They pulsed, undulating as the face of the plant grimaced, and it collapsed open. Asuka was dumped unceremoniously out of the petal mouth, drenched in a sticky goop. The face on the flower popped off and floated away as it wilted.

Asuka panted as she shakily stood up, trying to wipe the sap-like saliva or whatever the hell it was off of her. “D-disgusting…” She groaned, trying to shake off a rather persistent strand that dripped off of her chin.

“Asuka, are you alright?” Francis said, getting up from his scared trembling and rushing over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “What- what are you covered in-?” He said, recoiling at the touch.

“That-” Kaela said, walking over, “-is the same stuff that goes into the tea.” She ran a finger down Asuka’s cheek, gathering some of the goop, and stuck it in her mouth. She shivered, sticking her tongue out. “Bitter as anything.” Asuka just proceeded to continue attempting to wring herself out.

“I’m exhausted…” The thief groaned, shaking herself like a dog. “Can we go find a stream or something so I can wash off-?”

“It’s getting a bit late, too… once we do that, perhaps it’s best we set up camp for the night.” Kaela noted, her ears twitching slightly as she listened around them for other monsters that might sneak up on them while they were unaware. “Let’s get moving, you two.”

The pair nodded, and they continued on through the forest. The sun above dipped down toward the horizon, as evening turned to dusk, and dusk to night. The sound of rushing water got steadily louder as they neared a river. Asuka broke away, running off toward the riverbank and throwing herself into the water with a leap. She didn’t realize quite how cold it was going to be, and she surfaced, shivering and quickly scrabbling out. 

“Sh- crap-” She gasped, rolling around on the ground in an attempt to warm herself up. It made more sense in her head.

Francis walked over to her. “Are you alright?” He sighed, observing the soaked (but considerably less slime-covered) girl. She just panted in response, picking herself up onto her knees and looking up at him.

“I’m cold!” She stated, hugging herself. Kaela had been watching the scene quietly, but burst out laughing.

“You’ve got to think before you act, darling! It’s much too risky to just jump into things- especially literally…” She advised, giving a giggle that sounded like a bell. The elf crossed over to the two, and helped Asuka up. “Here, let’s make a fire, and warm you up.”

A few minutes later, they were gathered around the warm glow of the campfire, that crackled with life as flames licked at the cold air of the night. Asuka shivered, feeling her clothes dry a bit more on her body as she sat on a log. Kaela leaned slightly on Francis’ shoulder, as the man stared into the bright fire, his eyes wide open. Her eyes were drooping slightly, and the elf gave a yawn, stretching her arms up. 

“I think it's about time we get some sleep…” She murmured, standing up and walking over to the tent they had pitched not too long before. “Either of you going to keep watch?” 

Asuka gave a nod, but Francis spoke up first. “I'll do it.” He said, resting his chin in his hands. “I've got a lot to think on tonight.” He gave a soft hum, and waved Asuka off. She got up quietly, and gave a nod to him. 

“If you say so… have a good night, Francis!” Asuka murmured sleepily, crawling into the tent, her clothes only slightly damp now. She tucked herself into a sleeping bag, and quickly fell asleep. 

\-------------   
As dawn dawned at the campsite, Asuka yawned softly as she exited the tent, glancing over at where Francis was still awake, still keeping watch. She scooted over to him and looked up around at the forest.

“Hey, don’t you wanna be more useful?” She said, resting her chin in her hands and looking at Francis. He looked at her, a surprised expression on his face.

“W-what do you mean? Are the bananas not enough?” His voice trembled, seeming a bit paranoid and anxious.

“That’s… not what I mean. I mean, like… don’t you wanna be able to fight back more?”

“Well, of course! I just- I just never really trained to be an adventurer…” He shuffled, fidgeting with his hat.

“Here, I’ve got some weapons if you want to try them out.” She heaved a bag out of seemingly nowhere, dumping it on the ground. An assortment of weapons clinked onto the grass, shining golden in the sunlight. “Just grab one, see how it feels!”

Francis nodded, reaching down and picking up a small knife. He fumbled with the dagger, trying to twirl it in his hands but losing his grip and dropping it. “I- I don’t think this whole thief thing is for me…” He picked it back up, running his finger along the edge of the blade. He pressed too hard and accidentally nicked it, flinching and sticking the bleeding digit in his mouth. “Stings-” He muttered. Asuka just sighed, taking the weapon from him and tucking it back into her bag.

“Next-!” She ordered, pointing at a glowing broadsword.

He heaved the sword up, and nearly toppled backwards from the weight. “Aah-!” He yelled, as he let the blade clunk down, making a small kick in the dirt from the impact. “It’s so heavy…” He whined. He set it back down on the grass. “I don’t have the strength to be a warrior…”

“Then move on, we’ll find something, I’m sure…” Asuka sighed, nodding to a staff.

He lifted it, and balanced it between his hands. “Now we’re talkin’... I’ve always wanted to learn magic, and be a mage!” He laughed, raising the staff above his head. “Fire!” He pointed at a bush, and waited. And waited some more. “...f-fire?” He repeated, a bit less enthusiastically. The wind rustled the decidedly uncharred leaves in the silence. Asuka gave him a piteous look, and shook her head. 

“...Let’s… move on.” She jabbed her thumb toward another weapon, and he went and picked it up.

He held the frying pan in both hands, gave it a slight wave, and then looked back over at Asuka. “You can’t be serious with this. A- a chef?” She nodded, and he sighed, flipping it in his grasp. “It’s… a literal frying pan. This is ridiculous. Surely you’ve got something else that makes sense?”

“Well… close your eyes, let’s try this~” She giggled mischievously, and he happened to not notice. He did as she asked, and she shoved a headband on his head and gloves over his hands. “Open!” She ordered, and he looked down at his hands.

“Asuka. Just because you’re a furry, doesn’t mean I’m one.” He gave her an unamused glare, flexing the claws. He batted at the cat ears, looking all around indignant at his situation. “What’s next…?” Asuka just rolled her eyes, and pointed to the next set of equipment. 

Francis adjusted the cannon on his head, giving the hard helmet a tap. “So, how does this thing even work-” It went off with a bang, and he screamed, having not put the earmuffs on yet. He cupped his hands over his ears, wincing from the loud noise-- Asuka shook her head in dismay.

“Like that, apparently.” She muttered. He quickly got out of the outfit, tossing the cannon and shell to the ground as if it was a writhing snake.   
  
Picking up the bow with one hand, he pulled the pointed hat over his head, noting the slight magic that seemed to taper his ears to points. He nocked an arrow, pointing straight up into the trees, and pulled the string back. He let go, and the arrow soared up into the leaves of the trees. He watched it fly up, then drop down, down, down- striking him in the shoulder. He stared at the now bloodied shaft, dumbfounded and speechless, not registering the pain shooting through his left arm. Until he did, and began screaming.

One healing song and a lot of dried tears later, he was ready to try something else, something less dangerous-- something gentler. But he refused to put on the dress. He shoved the puffy fabric back at Asuka when she held it out to him, sending the tiara and fan clattering to the ground. “No.”

Needless to say, when presented with the cumbersome petaled headdress and the bouquet for a weapon, he was equally skeptical. He looked rather wilted, what with how it draped over his face, and the sickening yellow petals and his sour expression seemed… familiar, almost. But not from anything Asuka had ever known.

The goggles and labcoat, however, seemed to suit him more. He let the tinted goggles fall over his eyes, and stumbled about a bit from the reduced vision. He tripped over a rock, tumbling to the ground and shattering the glass flask in his hands. He jolted upright, goggles jumping off of his face as he scrambled to get away from the mess of glass and caustic chemicals. “Bad- bad bad bad, ow, ow ow-” He grabbed his discarded hat and pulled out a banana, stuffing it greedily into his mouth. Swallowing hard, he gave a sigh of relief at feeling his body get patched up.

“Did you just eat that with the peel on.” It wasn’t a question, but an astonished statement. Francis nodded, then proceeded to gag. She shook her head, and went to get the next set of equipment.

Asuka set down a large hair bow and a hat in from of him. “This one has two versions… choose whichever you like!” Francis stared at the accessories, before picking up the bow and staring at it confusedly. Asuka laughed, “You want that one?” She tossed him the poofy outfit that went along with it, and he quickly sidestepped as to not get hit by the sparkly, sequin-encrusted fabric.

“No, I was just looking… got any better hats?” He said, dropping the bow and going to grab his hat again, the seemingly infinite source of bananas an obvious necessity to the man. 

“Well, if you’re looking for something a bit more dapper…” She ran back over to the pile of clothes and began rifling through them, pulling out a top hat. She patted it a little to make sure it held its shape and stayed sturdy, then handed it to Francis. “Try this on, I’ll go get the rest of the stuff.” 

He nodded, pulling the hat on. He felt a shiver run up his spine, and as Asuka came back with the rest of the clothes and the bat, he winced a little from the strange sensation he was feeling. He opened his mouth to thank her, and realized what had felt so off- his canine teeth were now protruding as small fangs. He ran his tongue over the sharp points, and frowned. “Doeth thith come with the clathh?” He clapped a hand over his mouth as he heard his newly acquired lisp, then ripped the hat off. 

“Never again.” He gasped, staring down at the ground and valuing his voice. 

Asuka just nodded weakly, holding in both laughter and a slight blush that had risen to her face. “Here, just- just go put this on-” She shoved another pile of clothes into his arms then looked away.

“Okay, ready-?” He murmured, seeming nervous… or perhaps just unsure. He was wearing a rather skintight suit, hooking a finger under the collar of the dark, glossy material. His imp tail hung loosely behind him, and he looked rather dejected, leaning on the pitchfork. “I don’t think this fits me… both as a person and just- my size?”

Asuka sighed. “Okay, well… we do have one left.” She pointed to the bundle of soft clothes left still undisturbed on the forest floor, upon which was resting a staff.

He gave a sigh, picking up the tall hat and placing it on his head. “This better do something cool.” He grumbled, grabbing the staff. The robes that draped over his lanky figure were a pale blue, lined with white. He ran his free hand over the silky fabric, feeling it between his fingers. He focused, trying to get a grasp for the magic. “So, is this-” He lifted the staff, and felt the words slip from his lips as if by reflex. “Cure-!” He shouted, and felt wind pick up around him as a swirl of golden magic wrapped around his body, healing anything the bananas hadn’t. As the magic faded, he gave a sigh, and looked over at Asuka. 

Asuka was grinning widely, and ran over to him, giving him a tight hug. “You did it!” She squealed. She only reached to a point where she could cling to his lower torso, but it was still uncomfortably close for the man. He peeled her off of him, and shook his head. 

“If you say so.” He laughed, then tossed the tall hat off. “Will it still work if I’m not wearing the… attire?” He put his dual-pointed hat back on.

“I- huh, I guess? It’s just clothes… thought you’d like a change.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” He shrugged. Kaela finally returned, having gone on a walk in the early hours of the morning, and nodded to the two.

“Shall we get back on our way?” 

\-------------   
As the grassy forest floor gradually turned to the bumpy cobblestone of the path to the castle, Asuka couldn’t help but skip along, grinning as she led the two behind her. 

“Isn’t this exciting?” She chirped, swinging her arms from side to side. “We get to see Maie and Matthew again, and King Aviole too, if he’s in!”

“The again part is just on your end, Asuka…” Francis muttered, his hands still fumbling with his new staff. 

“Oh, don’t be such a worrywort, things will be fine!” She cheered, running off toward the castle doors. She pushed them open and strode casually into the castle, skipping along as her party followed quietly behind her. The large, wide halls were well lit, the red rug soft beneath their shoes, and everything was… peacefully quiet. Perhaps the guards were off-duty right now?

The sound of clanking metal boots and an unsheathing of weapons soon made it clear that that was not the case. 

“Uuuh, Asuka?” The girl whipped around, to see the ex-dark lord surrounded by guards. Francis was breathing fast, trying to keep very still in order to not bump into the spears pointed at his throat from all sides. Other guards stepped in to surround her and Kaela.

“Why are you harboring the former Dark Lord, adventurer? Do you not remember what he’s done?” The guard closest to the thief spat, glaring at her.

She turned to look at the guard, and seeing a familiar face, tried to plead her case. “He’s changed, Eve, I swear-! You can’t honestly just believe he’s evil after all that you know happened!” 

“There’s no proof that the legend you and your party of so-called ‘heroes’ spout is actually the truth. A Darker Lord, and a Dark Curse? More like a whole lot of hooey, if you ask me.” The soldier sneered. “Let’s get these miscreants to the dungeon.” She nodded for the trio to walk, Francis still surrounded by the spears. 

Asuka swallowed hard, trying to protest, but a spear pointed in her face shut her up in an instant. The trio were led down a side door, down stone stairs as they were nudged ever onward. They walked in silence, the only sounds from the clanking of the guards’ armor, their own footsteps, and the tense, panicked breathing. As the door to the barred cell was unlocked and opened, Francis stumbled in first, wincing from a sharp push from a guard. Kaela and Asuka followed in soon after, with the thief fighting and trying to brace herself on the bars. However, given the girl’s diminutive stature, it didn’t take much effort to toss her in and slam the door behind. 

“Well… that didn’t go so well.” Kaela muttered, sitting cross-legged on the worn, dusty bed. 

Francis was already getting to work, trying to use the end of his staff to carve a tally mark in the brick wall. “I told you this was a bad idea…” He grumbled. “People just don’t forgive that easily. Not all of them, at least.”

“I just thought they could help us…” Asuka whimpered, resting her head in her hands.

“That was stupid of you to assume.” He growled, turning and glaring at her.

“It wasn’t! I thought I was on good terms with the castle!”

“Remember who you’re surrounding yourself with, then. Anyone could tell you that this area still fears me. Why else am I stationed on the other side of the world?”

“I thought you wanted that job!”

“Because no one else would give me anything!”

“How is that my fault?”

“I never said it was, I’m just saying, it’s your fault we’re in this mess!”

“W-why are you getting mad at  _ me? _ ” Asuka muttered, her voice falling.

“Because you dragged me into this, and if you hadn’t, we’d both be just fine!” He hissed.

“Well, it’s not  _ my _ fault I thought you could help- I didn’t know who else to turn to!” She huffed, curling up on the floor. Francis just turned back to his work. Kaela watched the two, a pitying expression on her face-- but there wasn’t like there was much she felt she could do about it. So they just sat, each lost in their own thoughts.

“What is the meaning of this?” A voice interrupted the silence of the cell, as a torch flickered from just a little down the hallway. Asuka looked up. “You take people prisoner, without a word to Maie or I?” The slightly cracking but surprisingly confident voice of Matthew rang out into the open air as he came into view of the cell, flanked by two guards.

The former disgraced child was now shaping up to be a handsome and bright young man, holding himself a little taller than Asuka had last seen him. He still wore the recognizable blue coat that he had when he was younger, but it was notably less loose and draping, now a tight-fitting, short coat on his taller body. A glistening crown rested atop his mop of brown hair, of which still fell slightly in front of his kind eyes.

“You don’t understand, Prince Matthew.” Eve replied, folding her hands together. “This adventurer was harboring the former Dark Lord, and waltzed right into the castle without invitation.”

“This adventurer- the same adventurer that saved my wife?” The young man responded, nearing the cell bars and looking in. “The same one!” He looked at Asuka for a moment, then over to Kaela, then to Francis. His gaze lingered on the man for a bit, as his eyes widened slightly, nearly imperceptibly. Then he turned back toward the guards. “It’s alright. Please release these three.”

“But Matthew-” 

“Please. I don’t believe they mean us any harm. I don’t believe Maie would think this to be appropriate treatment, either. I can go ask her, if you’d like.” His voice was soft, but had the underlying tones of a threat. Asuka was a bit taken aback by how much the wimp of a boy had matured over the past four years.

“Alright, sir.” Eve huffed, brushing past him to unlock the door. “I hope those past ten minutes weren’t too traumatizing for you three.” She muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm and venom. The group stepped out, and Asuka went over to Matthew.

“Hey- uh, I realize this might be poor timing… but we’d actually like to request an audience with you and Maie.” She gave a sheepish laugh, putting a hand behind her head.

Matthew just blinked, looking down at her. “Oh! Well, that’s quite alright, I mean, you’re talking to me right now, but if you’d three just follow me…” He walked out and back up, the adventurers trailing behind him.

“You’ve- you’ve really grown up since the attack.” She couldn’t help but comment. 

Matthew gave a laugh, “Well, I’m not exactly the same boy you saved back four years ago…”

“Right, of course…” She nodded, continuing on. They soon arrived at Maie’s quarters, and Matthew gave three quick knocks on the door. 

“Maie, some old friends have come to visit us-” 

The door swung open slowly, and the princess poked her head out. “Oh, oh!” Her soft voice was full of surprise and joy. “Come in, come in!” She held the door open and nodded for them to enter. The princess’ room was just as Asuka had remembered it, four years ago- still quiet and neat, still pink and pretty.

“What can I do for you, hero and…?” Maie looked over at Kaela, then at Francis. She stifled a gasp, but tried not to show her shock. “-and others?”

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t introduce us all-” Asuka gestured to Francis. “This is Francis, he works way over in New Lumos-- also used to be the Dark Lord, but that wasn’t his fault! He’s a good guy, he’s helping. And this-” She gestured to Kaela, “-is the eldest of the three fab fairy sisters, over in the Elven Retreat. She’s also with me, to help.”

“Help? Is something the matter?” Matthew pressed, crossing over to stand next to Maie.

“Well, sort of, yeah. My teammates- the ones who helped me defeat the Dark Lord, the friends who helped me rescue you both- they’ve… well, they’ve disappeared. I’m going to search for them, but I don’t want to go alone, hence why I’ve come here to ask for your help. I don’t know what’s out there… or how serious the situation is, so… it might be dangerous, and if you don’t want to come, w-we completely understand!”

“Oh goodness, I… I’ll come with you! I would love to help!” Maie said, clasping her hands to her chest as her eyes sparkled with excitement. Matthew shook his head, giving her a hug.

“Maie, come on… I’ve got to be a hero for you! You have to stay back with your father… I’ll be the one taking the risks here, for your sake!” He smiled at her, and then turned back to Asuka, the same sparkling hope of adventure in the princess’ eyes reflected in his own. “I’ll join you.”

“A-ah, well… uh… we’d be happy to have either of you join us…”

Matthew leaned over and whispered something into Maie’s ear. Her expression darkened for a moment, then she nodded, smiling again, as she whispered a reply. Matthew then turned back to Asuka. “We’ve decided, I’ll be joining you.”

“Ah- oh, that’s wonderful!” Asuka beamed, but she felt Francis tense for a moment, next to her. She didn’t pay it any mind, excited to get a full group to help her out with her journey. “Do you need to get ready, or shall we head out?”

“I will need a few minutes to get ready, just a moment-” Matthew ran off to a different room, leaving the trio alone with Maie.

“What did he tell you?” Kaela quirked an eyebrow.

Maie just laughed. “Nothing too important… don’t worry about it.” She smiled at them, and they just waited in polite silence for Matthew to return. It was only a few minutes before he did, suited up in a set of armor and a sword sheathed at his belt.

“I’m ready for adventure!” He cheered, throwing a fist in the air. 

Maie giggled again, and gave him a hug and kiss. “Stay safe, my brave hero-! And same goes for you all!” 

And so, the trio, now turned a quartet, set off.

\-------------

The skies were clear as ever, the sun above them bright and warm as they flew on Dominic’s back.

“So, where exactly are we going?” Matthew asked, seated behind Asuka.

“Yeah- you- y- yoooou never told us!” Francis yelled, hanging onto Dominic’s tail for dear life-- again.

“We’re headed to find out information. If we can get any idea of what happened to my friends, then we can investigate more.” Asuka responded, keeping her eyes set on the horizon. “You’ve got the location, Dominic?”

“Yes! We’re almost there!” The dragon gave a high pitched roar, diving down to a small circular ring of buildings, suspended partially in the air. He landed softly, the thump echoing in the quiet air.

“Here we are, the Traveler’s Hub!” Asuka said, jumping down onto the brick path. “I’m sure there should be someone here who can help us find…” she trailed off, looking around.

“You sure this is the right place?” Matthew asked, cautiously climbing down. He glanced around the streets. “It looks kinda empty…” He held his sword up, tilting his helmet out of the way of his face. The wind blew past them, shaking the leaves of trees and signs on buildings, a cold chill in an otherwise silent place.

“…seems this is turning out worse than we imagined.” Francis noted, falling unceremoniously off of Dominic’s tail.

“Asuka,” Kaela slid off of Dominic’s back, landing daintily on the ground, “-there’s no one here.”


	5. Help Wanted

Asuka stood outside the inn, and gave a sharp whistle to the sky. A loud beating of wings and a shadow fell over the inn, blotting out the sun. The thief just grinned. It was a friendly sight, a familiar comfort, seeing Dominic was good and well. His white scales still had their gentle light blue sheen, and his bright dark eyes were happy. She waved to him as he landed.

“Hey Dominic, think you can take me to New Lumos?” She called up to her dragon friend.

“Sure… are you going alone? I heard it’s dangerous there!” He looked around for the others, tilting his head to the side.

She gave a small frown. “I- I don’t plan on staying long, just… going to pick up a friend of mine. As for the others… they’re gone. I’m gonna go get them back.”

The dragon tilted his head, giving a sad growl. “I see… do you know where they went?”

“No idea. But I’ll find them. I know I will. Now c’mon Dom, can you give me a ride?”

“Yes! Hop on! We’ll be there right away!” The dragon said, landing and bowing his head so Asuka could scramble on top. She held on, giving a grateful pat to his horn.

“Thanks, you’re always there for us.”

“You helped me, so it’s only fair I help you!” Dominic growled cheerfully, before taking off and swooping into the sky. “To New Lumos!”  
\-------------  
When they landed in the bright city, Asuka gave another quick pat on the snoot to Dominic, before jogging off to the entrance of the districts. As she approached, she saw a familiar purple hat-wearing young man. She waved, running up to him.

“Francis! Oh Francis~!” She called out, causing the ex-Dark Lord to jump, startled. He looked her up and down, and then squinted, crossing his arms.

“…Asuka.” He huffed.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” She hopped over to him. “Sooooooooo… how’s life?”

“Uh…” he gestured around him, at the bright buildings and dangerous looking roadways, “-it’s the same as it has been since the last time you asked me that. Which, might I add, was less than a week ago.” He sighed.

“Well, yeaaaaah. Yeah. But stiiiiill… what’s up?” She smiled.

“…what do you want? Why are you here alone?” Francis said, cutting straight to the chase. He twirled a strand of white hair between his fingers as he stared down at her. He towered over her, due to both his lanky stature and to her diminutive one. She tried not to feel intimidated… and his dorky hat and tired expression sort of helped that.

“Weeeell…. you see… uh… my friends are missing.” She said, surprised at how well she kept her composure.

“Your friends. You mean, like… the other nine numbskulls you hang out with?” Francis said, glancing up at the sky. It wasn’t a secret that Francis wasn’t exactly… on good terms with much of anyone anymore. After his time as the Dark Lord, despite a lot of his actions not being his fault, he didn’t exactly get warm reception from most of the people he met. Because of that, he treated his job at New Lumos as a form of banishment, and had grown a bit more sour thanks to Asuka and her friends running in and out of the districts as they did sometimes, as if it was no big deal. He still appreciated her and them saving him and the rest of Miitopia… but it wasn’t like he was going to worship them or hail them as saviors. He had made that quite clear.

“Yes… them. They just vanished in the middle of the night.” She sighed. “I need someone to tag along and help me find them.” She had thought of finding Francis first, both because of his… experience, with teammate-napping, as well as to make sure he wasn’t the one behind it, despite all odds. She trusted him… but perhaps not as much as she would’ve liked to. She knew he said he had changed, and hadn’t wanted what the Dark Curse did, but… she was still wary.

“…you sure they aren’t just hiding out, ready to throw you a surprise party? Or perhaps they got sick of dealing with you, and just ran off to get away. Or perhaps-“

“S-Stop that! I ask you for help and you insult me?” Asuka spluttered, flabbergasted. To say she was offended was an understatement. She wasn’t happy that he was making a joke of her predicament.

Francis huffed. “Well, I’m just stating possibilities. Do you know what happened to them?”

“…not at all.” She admitted, feeling a bit sheepish. Perhaps she was taking things a bit too harshly… but perhaps not. Better safe than sorry, she always thought.

“Then you don’t know if you even should be worried.” He shrugged, crossing his arms again. “Like I said, it might not be anything big.” He looked completely uninterested.

“H-how can you be so casual about this?” She hissed.

“They aren’t my friends.” He muttered. “I mean, really. You all saved me, and I’ve told you time and time again that I’m thankful… but that doesn’t mean I’m suddenly going to be friends with you…”

“Listen… I’m worried, and I want to search… are you going to help me?” Asuka asked. No words followed, only the steady downfall of rain that surrounded the districts. Francis stared at her, his lavender eyes seeming cold, uncaring… reminding her of the Dark Lord he had once been. Then he closed them, and shrugged.

“Yeah. I’ve really got nothing better to do. People don’t heed my warnings here… at least at the factory I saw more people that were willing to speak to me in the first place.” At his last sentence, a new emotion crossed over his face. Loneliness.

“…Francis, would you like to be friends? Since… apparently we weren’t before?” Asuka said, holding out her hand to him. He stared at her again, a different mix of emotions running across his face. A face that had once resided on a being of great evil, that had once threatened her and her friends and the safety of her world. But that wasn’t his fault… not entirely at least. Though, all things considered, it was a hard memory to unsee. Every moment she looked at him, she remembered what she had gone through, what her friends had gone through, what Miitopia had gone through. But perhaps this would change that, she hoped. Just depended on his answer.

“I don’t need your pity. But sure, whatever.” He scoffed, shaking her hand. “When I helped you in the Skyscraper, I… I was glad I could help, even if it… wasn’t much. So I guess I’ll do it again. I still owe you, after all. If that’s what friends do… I’d be happy to call you mine.” He gave a slight smile, his eyes softening.

“Alright… let’s go, then!” She smiled brightly, grasping tighter on his hand, and running off, dragging him behind her.

“W-wait!” Francis exclaimed, his entire demeanor having taken a large turn. “We’re not just going to look for them, just the two of us, right?”

“Of course not! We gotta get some more friends first!” She grinned, bringing him over to Dominic. The dragon tilted his head curiously as she approached, but didn’t say anything. “Dominic, can you please take the two of us to the Realm of the Fey?” The dragon nodded, bowing his head down for her to climb on.

“You’re… friends with a dragon?” Francis blurted out, astounded.

“Yeah.” Asuka shrugged nonchalantly. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that jazz.”

“The… what?”

“Eh, doesn’t matter. Just hop on!” She shouted, climbing onto Dominic’s neck.

“Wh-where should I-?” Francis stammered, approaching cautiously.

“Wherever you’re comfortable.” The dragon rumbled, and Francis nearly jumped out of his pants. He took another few steps closer.

“C’mon, Francis, we don’t have all day!” Asuka groaned, and Francis nervously took ahold at the base of Dominic’s tail.

“S-so, like thi- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” His words dropped off into a yell as Dominic jumped up, beating his large wings powerfully as they ascended. Francis held onto the tail for dear life, clinging in a panic to the scaly surface.

“Fab fairies, here we come!” Asuka cheered, as they zoomed through the sky. Francis only screamed.  
\-------------  
When they landed in the colorful forest, it took more than a few minutes for Francis to pry himself off of Dominic’s tail.

“I… am never doing that… ever… again.” He panted, holding a hand to his chest. Asuka just laughed.

“Sure you will! Now, let’s go!” She cheered. She skipped off into the Realm of the Fey, and Francis followed slowly behind. As they walked, Francis looked around in awe and wonder.

“It’s so bright here…” He murmured. He wandered off to the side of the path to inspect a rather large tomato. “This is so weird…” He slumped over it, resting for a moment. “Asuka… wait up a second, alright?”

She turned back, “What are you doing… we need to keep going!” She rolled her eyes. “You’re gonna have to catch up… or should I say… ketchup!” She giggled, and Francis just looked over at her with a look of utter disappointment.

“You did not just…” He sighed, pushing himself back onto his feet. “If you stop making puns I’ll keep up…” He started to walk back towards Asuka, as she turned back around to continue forward, when he got bumped from behind. He stumbled forward, turning around to see the tomato had rolled into him. He shrugged, and continued walking, when it bumped into him again. He turned around and shoved it, watching it roll, revealing a grinning mouth as it changed its spin and forcefully rolled into him. “Ah-!” He yelped, falling backwards. The mouthy tomato bounced onto him, knocking the air out of his lungs. He gasped, flailing a bit to try and get it off of him. “Stop, stop- help!”

“What did you do…” Asuka turned back around, and gasped. “Oh- oh jeez, Francis!” She ran over to him, throwing her dagger at the tomato. It stuck into the fruit, and at the attack, the tomato rolled over Francis’ face to barrel towards her. She tried to dodge, backflipping out of the way, but as she landed, it turned and rolled back towards her. The dagger clinked to the ground, and she tried to get back over to it while the tomato chased her. Meanwhile, Francis recovered from the shock and pain, and got up, legs wobbling. He watched Asuka run around, and slowly leaned down to pick up a handful of rocks.

“Hey, ugly!” He shouted, throwing the rocks at the tomato. It turned away from Asuka, sticking out a horrific tongue at him before beginning to roll in his direction. Asuka took the opportunity to dash over to her dagger, and leapt at the back of the tomato, making quick slashes into the fruit. It vaguely deflated beneath her, crumbling into a fruity dust, and she breathed a quick sigh as she saw the shape of the mouth float upwards.

“Thanks for the help, Francis.” She smiled at him, as he limped over to her. “You alright, man?”

“Got my guts crushed by a living tomato. I’m-“ He paused, coughing. “-I’m doing great.” He took a few deep breaths, holding a hand to his chest. “Let’s just get moving again.”

Asuka nodded. “Right, right.” She started back off down the trail, skipping her way along, but holding back enough to keep pace with Francis. The young man was still a bit out-of-sorts from the attack, but he seemed alright and kept walking. The duo made their way through the wooded area, Asuka keeping an eye out for any more suspicious tomatoes or other potential monsters. “It’s a shame that defeating the dark curse didn’t just stop all the monsters, y’know?”

“Eh, kept me with a job.” Francis shrugged. “New Lumos may be hectic, but it’s at least a stable means of work.” He looked pensive for a moment, “-but I do see what you’re coming from. It’d be nice to have a peaceful world…” They fell back into silence as they walked. As they neared the Elven Retreat, Asuka felt a bit surprised that they hadn’t been beset upon by any more monsters, but it wasn’t as if she minded. Less danger was always a good thing, after all.  
“Well, here we are…” Asuka hummed, walking casually into the retreat, waving to some of the elves who were walking about. Francis followed, shadowing her and keeping his head down. He didn’t seem sure what kind of reception he’d get here, but he didn’t look like he wanted to cause any trouble. He just kept following as they made their way through, silent and cautious. Asuka was very cheery and friendly, pointing finger guns at the trio of “Fab Fairy Fans” and giving a genuine smile to a particularly grumbly elf. She led Francis up to a large mushroom house, knocking purposefully on the door, then leaning back and waiting. The protectors of the Realm of the Fey would be answering any minute now, with any luck.

“Wait, we’re asking for help from them…?” Francis raised an eyebrow. Asuka wondered if he was feeling wary due to his prior… encounters, she supposed, with the Fab Fairy sisters. She realized she… probably should have thought out the order in which she asked people for help a bit more than she had. But there was no more time to dwell on that, as the door swung open, and the youngest of the sisters poked her head out.

“Hello?” She chirped, looking at Asuka, then up at Francis. “What do you want, and why’s he here?” Her sunshine yellow hair bobbed with her words, and she pursed her lips.

“A-ah, hi Bea, I was wondering if Francis and I could ask you and your sisters about a few things…?” After all this time, she still hadn’t been able to get over the young girl’s brash attitude. It reminded her of Francine sometimes… but perhaps a little more on the bratty side. That being said, she knew she couldn’t doubt the youngest’s devotion to her sisters and her town, so Asuka supposed it was all for the best.

“Well… as long as he doesn’t try anything funny, we should be alright.” Bea gave a glare at Francis, and he flinched. She then opened the door more, calling back to her sisters as she led the two into the small house. The Fab Fairies were privileged in that they had one of the few residences in the retreat that actually had a working door, it seemed many elves didn’t have much of a care for privacy. Walking in, Asuka looked around at the beautiful but still simple interior. Flowers littered the walls and floor, but not in a messy way, in a more stylistic sort of way. Bea led the two to a simple mushroom table with little mushrooms for stools. Asuka sat down, and so did Bea, but Francis stayed standing. There were only four seats, it seemed he had noticed.

“You said we have guests, Bea?” The eldest emerged from a cover of leaves that was hanging from the ceiling, masking what seemed to be a corridor behind them. She glanced over at Asuka and Francis, and smiled, giving a flip of her long, eggplant-colored hair. “Ah, welcome. What brings you two here?” She sat down at the table, resting her elbows on it and her chin in her hands.

“We’re here for your help, Miss Kaela.” Asuka began, and the eldest Fab Fairy raised a hand to quiet her.

“Please, Asuka, call me Kaela.” She smiled warmly, her ears twitching slightly as she turned away to look at the curtain again. It rustled, and the middle sister poked her head out, giving a shy wave. “Ah, Ivori, come over, you know all is well here.” The orange-haired elf toddled quietly over to the table, clasping her hands together. Ivori cast a curious look at Francis, who turned his head to the side, not making eye contact.

“So, you need our help…?” She echoed, about to sit down in the last seat. She hesitated, before gesturing for Francis to sit down. He shook his head, and she gave a slight frown, before nodding and sitting down.

“Yes, we…” Asuka gave a sigh, “-my friends, the adventurers I was exploring alongside, vanished just the other night, without any warning. I… I was wondering if one of you could join me in attempting to locate them?” She tried to speak formally, having great respect for the three powerful elves.

“Has another evil surfaced…?” Ivori whispered quietly. Her sisters leaned in, listening intently.

Asuka just gave a shrug. “Not sure. I’ve heard nothing of it, if one has.”

“So they’ve just vanished, with no rhyme or reason as to how or why?” Kaela asked to confirm, to which Asuka nodded.

“If I can ask… why’s he sticking along with you?” Bea said, jabbing her thumb at Francis. He shrunk back into his coat and tugged his hat down over his eyes, uncomfortable with the attention.

“I asked him to.” Asuka stated simply. Bea pouted a little, but said no more.

“As much as we’d love to help you, darling, we need to continue protecting the retreat. We can’t spare more than one of us away at a time, if the Dark Lord’s attack was any proof.” Kaela sighed, “-however, that being said, you did only ask for one of us, and I could join you to assist. Should this be a more severe incident than simply your friends going missing, I would like to be able to assist you in combating a new foe, rather than let the retreat fall victim again due to my negligence. I believe my sisters would be more than able to handle things on their own here…?” She glanced between the other two elves.

“Kaela, you also must be careful.” Ivori murmured softly. “We can’t afford to lose you again. But we will defend the retreat from any and all threats.” She nodded, and Bea did as well, still glaring at Francis.

“We can handle things here just fine, dear sister. Just don’t lose your head.” She giggled, Ivori stifled a laugh, and Kaela just rolled her eyes.

“Then it’s settled. I shall join you on your quest.” She said, smiling warmly at the two. Francis was a little dumb-founded, and perhaps also a little distracted by the allure of the eldest fairy. Asuka had to give him a slight nudge to get him lift his gaze before she spoke up.

“Thank you very much!” She grinned, standing up and giving a slight bow. “We’ll be waiting at the edge of the retreat if you need to prepare, does that sound okay?” Kaela nodded, and Asuka quickly dragged Francis out of the home of the Fab Fairies, and rushed the two to the border of the elven town. When they got out of earshot, she burst into a giggly squeal. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes!” Francis blinked confusedly.

“Why are you so elated?” He questioned. She just giggled again.

“Why else? We just got a Fab Fairy to help us! That’s fantastic!”

“You didn’t seem this excited earlier…” He muttered.

“I wasn’t gonna be ruuuuude, didn’t wanna pressure them!” She hopped up and down happily, grabbing his hands in hers and grinning widely. “I’m just so happy!” He stared at her, but a small smile rested in his lips. He seemed to relax a bit at her explanation.

“With someone as powerful as her, we should be set to go look for your friends.” He murmured, but Asuka shook her head.

“Nah, nah! We still need to go over to the desert! We need to get more friends!”

“O-oh, I see.” He hummed softly. “The more the merrier, right?” She nodded. Before he could say anything more, Kaela waltzed up to them.

“Alright darlings, I’m ready.” She flipped her purple hair behind her shoulders, and gave a warm smile to the two. Asuka smiled back, and Francis did the same, trying not to notice the slight blush that rose to his face.

“Come on you two, to Neksdor!” Asuka cheered, leading them out of the retreat and back over to where Dominic was waiting. After a few quick introductions, and Francis learning of a better way to ride, they were out in the air again, on their way.  
\-------------  
Landing in the dry, hot desert, the duo-turned-trio slowly made their way over to the oasis town. Francis was visibly bothered by the heat, but refused to take his coat off.

“I’m fine, I swear…” He had insisted stubbornly, pulling the dark cloth even tighter to his body.

“Well when we get to the town, we’re going to get you some water.” Asuka murmured. “Heat stroke or whatever, ain’t good for you.”

“You have to be aware of your limits, Francis.” Kaela added, flitting ahead a bit. “We’re almost there, by the looks of it.”

Sure enough, the sandy scenery soon gave way for the tan buildings and green trees of Neksdor. Asuka looked around the town, before spotting a rather large floating figure, and ran over to him, jumping up to tap him on the shoulder. The genie had been staring up at the sky, and turned quickly around.

“Well!” He said, his voice booming but friendly. “If it isn’t Asuka! Nice to see you again!” He looked down at her, then looked to the two companions who had followed over. “So, who’s your friends?”

“Dey’krn, these here are Francis and Kaela!” She smiled at them, and they waved. Francis looked a little frightened.

“You there, boy, you look familiar! Did I ever steal from you?” Dey’krn leaned down and moved closer to stare at Francis.

“Uh… not exactly, but I… I did actually…” Francis shivered.

“He used to be the Dark Lord, but he’s totally not evil now.” Asuka answered for him. Dey’krn’s eyes narrowed, and Francis bit back a yelp. 

“Wharharharhar!” The genie laughed heartily, expression relaxed, as he floated to the side and gave Francis a heavy pat on the back, “Nice to see you’ve changed your ways, too!” Francis stumbled a bit, wheezing from the impact. Asuka laughed, then spoke back up.

“So, Dey’krn, we were wondering if you could join us three for a bit of an adventure? I’m trying to find my friends, they kind of… went missing the other day.”

His expression darkened a bit, concern on his features. “Listen, kid, as much as I would love to…” Dey’krn paused, slinging his arms behind his head, “-I’ve been pretty busy here in town, can’t exactly bail out for some big adventure right now.” He shrugged, “Good luck with all that, though.”

“Well, I suppose that’s understandable. I can’t expect people to be up for adventure all the time, especially in a time of peace like things are now.” Asuka twiddled her thumbs.

“Hah! Tell that to ol’ Prince Mikeal! He’s been raring for a fight ever since Greenhorne’s royal wedding, and last I heard he was still sulking in the desert! If that kid actually had power or bravery, he’d probably storm that ol’ castle himself!” He laughed again.

“W-Well I’m glad that he won’t be doing that?” Asuka shrugged, really unsure of how to respond. Francis just snickered, and Kaela looked slightly concerned.

“Yup!” Dey’krn looked over at the setting sun, “Oh, would you look at that, it's getting late. Why don't you rest awhile?” He gestured to the inn. “Just 500g a person!” The trio did a double take, staring astonished at the genie. “Just kidding!” He laughed. “You’re welcome guests, I’m sure.” Asuka gave an awkward laugh, and motioned for the other two to follow as she set off for the building.

“Thanks, genie man!” She said, giving another small wave as they went into the inn and took a room.

As they entered the room, Francis stumbled, visibly exhausted and weak, over to one of the beds, collapsing onto his back. Asuka and Kaela looked at him, concerned.

“Francis, are you alright?” Kaela asked. He only nodded weakly in response. She walked over to him, leaning over and running his hands along his body. She slipped his coat off of him, casting it aside. She then unbuttoned his shirt, and slowly peeled the sweat-soaked fabric off, exposing his pale and slim torso. He was shivering.

“W-what are you doing-?” He stammered, a blush forming on his cheeks.

“Calm down. I’m just inspecting for wounds.” She stated, rolling her eyes. As her fingers trailed up to his chest, she pressed down between his lungs. He gave a small whine, visibly in pain. She released the pressure, and then pushed back down again, to the same response. She gave a small hum. “That’s not good.”

“I told you, I’m f-fin-“ He cut himself off with a pained cough, sudden spasms running through his body. He coughed again, a bit of blood dribbling from his lips. He reached to his face to wipe it away, visibly strained in his breathing now.

“You’re obviously not fine.” Kaela said, starting to weave a spell with a wave of her hands. “Bruised ribs, by the looks of it. Any idea the cause?”

“Probably that mouthy tomato we fought back in your realm.” Asuka answered, shushing the sick man when he tried to speak. “Rolled right over him like he was a doormat. Dey’krn and the heat probably didn’t help either.”

Kaela failed to suppress a giggle, but was still serious as she continued, “R-Right, you humans are a bit more fragile… it’s not an issue, however, I’ll get him healed up right away.” She hummed a small tune, and a gentle golden glow swirled around her hands and Francis’ torso. He visibly relaxed, giving an appreciative sigh as his pain diminished. As the healing magic faded and Kaela’s song waned, it seemed it had been almost like a lullaby to the man, as he quietly drifted off to sleep.

“Guess that’s that.” Asuka muttered, walking over to another bed and climbing in. Kaela did the same, switching off the lights.

As they rested in the darkness, Asuka spoke up. “Kaela, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Asuka. What is it?” The elf wasn’t asleep yet, obviously.

“Why is it that… even after the dark curse was defeated, and reborn… why are there still faces on monsters, and why do people keep losing their faces?”

“Well, from what I’ve seen, from what has been said of the dark curse, he was the first face to be cast off… but monsters still existed before then. Just not in the sheer amounts they do now.” Kaela gave a gentle sigh, “You know, when it comes down to it, the monsters aren’t much different from you and I. We may have faces, but they have other unique parts that make them themselves. You don’t have a butterfly’s wings, or a medusa’s hair, but you aren’t incomplete, are you?” Asuka shook her head in response. “That’s what I thought. I’m sure it’s the same for the monsters, at least those that aren’t under the same control or creation of the Dark Lord.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they’re perfectly fine and peaceful without our faces. That much has been proven… I mean, when’s the last time you saw a regular tomato out in the Realm? Do mouthy tomatoes only become alive when given a pair of lips? Or do you think all tomatoes, even the ones we harvest, are already sentient? It’s… not exactly something you’d want to think about. So that’s why I think it’s fine to just leave things as they are. They live, and we live. We simply must protect ourselves.” Kaela smiled at Asuka, who was slightly confused at the fairy’s logic, but didn;t want to question her.

“Right, okay…” Asuka burrowed herself further in the blankets, making a small warm cocoon around her body. “That sounds good.”

“Now get some rest. It’s all gonna be okay.”

Asuka nodded, curling up and quickly dropping into a deep sleep.

 

~~~~~  
“I told you, we can't take the griffin home!” Katsuye said, gently bopping Monica on the back of her head. The chef, frowned, crossing her arms.

“But we can ride it and make it our pet!” She insisted.

“Why do we need a pet? We got you already, silly!” Melanie giggled, twirling her pitchfork.

Katsuye snickered, as Monica gasped. “Excuse me? Says the goat woman!” She laughed, brandishing her frying pan.

“Goat woman?” Melaine tugged self-consciously at the skull over her head. “It’s a costume, get over yourself!” She giggled, despite that.

“Stop nyagging at each other…” Asuka murmured, having sped ahead of the trio. She waved her tail impatiently.

“How- how did we forget Asuka! She’s a literal cat!” Melanie burst into laughter, and Monica and Katsuye did the same after a moment. Asuka stopped, rolling her eyes at her friends. They sure were a happy, carefree bunch. As sunny as the desert sand.  
~~~~~


	6. The Search Begins

“But… this isn’t right…” Asuka stumbled forward, placing a hand to her forehead. “This place is usually crowded with people!” She threw her arms up, shouting into the open air. Only silence responded, as the other three watched her outburst. “We need to find an inn, or something-” She took off running through the cobblestone streets. Panic pulsed in her chest as she looked for any sign of life, any signal that there were other people here, like usual, like always, like things should be. She didn’t notice her party lagging a little behind, having trouble keeping up in her energetic dash.

“Asuka, Asuka, just wait a single second, for heaven’s sakes-!” Kaela was shouting after her. But the redhead just kept running, kept searching frantically and choking back her panic. She disappeared behind a turn in the road, and it wasn’t until some time later that the other three would find her, curled up in an alleyway. “Asuka…”

The girl was sniffling, arms hugging her knees to her chest. “This isn’t right, this isn’t right…” She was chanting, trembling in fear. “No one’s heeere!” She wailed. Her eyes were puffy, as hot tears spilled down her cheeks. The weight of this seemingly worsening disaster was bearing down on her, as she shook and sobbed. “I’m not going to find my friends, more people are gonna go missing, and I’m just gonna be alo-o-o-o-ooone…”

Kaela kneeled next to her. “Asuka, it’s going to be okay. Please calm down, we have to be rational about this, dear…” The fairy hugged her friend gently, patting her back and whispering comforts as the thief began to calm down. “You can’t lose hope just yet.”

“Right… right… okay…” She mumbled into Kaela’s shoulder, burying her face in the purple fairy’s embrace. “I’m sorry, I just got scared…” The soft feeling of the other’s skin and dress was a calming touch in comparison to the cold, sharp stones beneath her, and she relaxed more and more.

“If you two are done, the inn’s just a couple blocks over.” Francis noted, jabbing a thumb in one direction. “Matthew scouted it out when you dashed off. He’s a useful kid.”

“Really?” Asuka looked up, eyes sparkling with hope. “That means- people!” She broke away from Kaela’s comfort, rubbing her tears away with a balled up fist, and stood up, taking a few shaky steps back out into the street. “L-lead the way…” She smiled, and Kaela just shook her head, amused but pleased with how quickly the girl had bounced back from her episode. 

Francis nodded, setting off on the same path he’d seen Matthew wave over from, as the girls followed. A few minutes later, they arrived at a familiar looking inn, the windows shining with activity and warmth, a familiar sense of security and home. Asuka burst in, grinning widely, but faltered as she saw Matthew speaking to the innkeeper, a worried expression on the boy’s face.

“So you haven’t gotten much business, and adventurers have just been… vanishing? Isn’t that dangerous, with all the monsters around?”

“That’s the thing… there have actually been less monster sightings since the adventurers started disappearing. It’s made some people suspect that the reason so many monsters were still roaming about was because of adventurers needing an evil to fight.” The burly innkeeper remarked, shining a glass with a rag. “Gotta say, the peace and quiet is pretty welcome, all things considered.”

“P-pretty welcome? People are missing!” Kaela argued, stepping up to the counter.

“Yeah, so? Not like you adventurers ever paid your tab- I’ve run this inn for fifteen years, and ever since you adventurers took it upon your backs to ‘save the world’, you’ve never given me a single coin for what I do for ya! Be glad I don’t kick you out and run you out right now- you’ve got no fightin’ majority anymore, sweetheart.”

“...how do you keep this inn running, if you don’t- if you don’t make any profits?” Matthew inquired, leaning on the counter.

The man shrugged. “Donations, magic, you name it. I’m afloat by my own making, not by what anyone else has done for me. Besides, we’ve got regulars who are, well, actually decent people who understand I gotta make a living the same as anyone else.”

Francis walked up and squinted. “Didn’t you just contradi-”

“As I was sayin’...” the innkeeper didn’t let him finish, ”-adventuring ain’t a good profession to pursue anymore. Most of those that are left have quit their travelin’ ways outta fear that they’ll vanish just like all the others.”

“And no one’s trying to find out what happened?” 

“Eh, probably, it’s a risk to try even that, though. A lost cause- besides, it’s not like too many people miss those rude masses.”

“But they have friends! They have families! They have lives just like you and I!” Asuka burst, running over and slamming her hands on the counter. She glared up at the innkeeper, jumping a little to try to counteract her diminutive stature.

“Where was that excuse when they didn’t pay me? Eh?” The man set the glass down on the counter and glared back at Asuka. “If you’re lookin’ to cause trouble, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to ask you and yer friends to get on outta here.”

She swallowed hard, backpedalling as she lifted her hands off of the counter. But she still held her ground. “Sir, there’s really no need to threaten-”

“I’ll give you to the count of three. One.” Matthew and Francis backed up. “Two.” Kaela did as well, and just as the innkeeper was about to raise a bulky arm to strike down the short thief, the elf grabbed her friend’s wrist and yanked her backwards. “That’s better. Go on and keep explorin’, have a nice life- if y’all disappear, send my regards to whatever afterlife’s waitin’.”

The door slammed behind them, and Asuka slumped against the side of the building. 

“Oh my stars…” She gasped, putting a hand over her mouth, “I had no idea adventurers had such a bad rep…”

“Could just be that inn, you never know…” Matthew tried to stay positive, “Maybe we should look around a bit more, make sure there’s no one else that could help us…?”

“We did learn something from that, though. Your friends aren’t special victims, they’re just part of a larger… issue.” Francis noted, crossing his arms. “It’s disturbing there’s such a nonchalance to so many people going missing, though…”

“This is more serious than we thought.” Kaela sighed.  
  
“Let’s keep looking…” Matthew sighed. The party kept walking along the roads, looking down alleyways and at dark buildings with locked doors and ‘closed’ signs. A dreary warble echoed ominously down the street- someone was singing, rather woefully. “Hey… do you hear that?”

Asuka nodded, and rushed forward, dragging the others behind her in pursuit of the song. They turned a corner, and she nearly slammed into the source, who stopped singing rather abruptly. The woman was wearing a tight pink body suit and a familiar bright blue bowtie around her neck. She stared at Asuka, before leaning over and squinting at her. She jumped into action, clapping her hands together.

“Who has an ever-lasting love and thirst for games? Why, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood Quizma- oh, who am I kidding.” Mei-Lya sighed, tilting her pink hat over her face. “You adventurers ran me out of house and home!” She crossed her arms. “Aaaaaallllll my candy, allllllll my bananas, all my game tickets? And not a scrap in return for all my lovely quizzes!”

Asuka flinched. “Y-you gave those out yourself!” She stammered, leaning back.

“Yeah. I did.” The quizmaster put a hand to her chin. “Yeah, come to think about it, you didn’t even want my lovely quizzes half the time… maybe I oughta start charging people. Well! Too late now! Maybe I’ll take up a hobby… like knitting! I could knit you a nice scarf, how about that? And, if you get this next question right, you get two scarves, for free!”

“Okay, we’re going before she says more that she’s going to regret.” Francis said, grabbing Asuka by the collar and dragging her backwards as the quartet left the strange woman, who was still rambling about all the wonderful questions she had to offer.

“Maybe it’s best we just get looking around the world…” Matthew murmured, a bit downcast. “The sooner we get started, the sooner we can find… someone, I guess…”

“But we have no idea where to even start looking. We could go across the whole of the land, but honestly? It could be years before we find anything like that.” Francis hissed. “If we don’t find even the slightest hint of where to start, we don’t find anyone. That’s just how it goes-- it’s not realistic to try any other option.”

“So, what?” Matthew turned to glare at the man. “You’re saying if we don’t find anything, we just give up? We just pretend nothing happened, and leave those people to be lost?”

“That’s not what I said- I said there’s no point in trying without a ghost of an idea of where to start. With all the however many dozens of adventurers missing, if we want to find one specific group, we’re better off narrowing our search first.”

“So you don’t care about the others? You don’t care about all the lives that could be in peril right now?” Matthew was bristling with anger, now.

“I don’t really care because I don’t have a reason to. I’m only in this to repay a debt. That, and so I don’t go on the record as abandoning my family.” He scoffed. “My reputation’s already bad enough as is.”

His eyes widened, his hands clenching into fists by his sides. “That’s all? Not even your family matters to you, it’s just all about your reputation?” Tears welled in the boy’s eyes- hot, angry tears swelling with confused pain, as he shouted, “That’s it? There’s nothing else? There’s no one you care about- in your shriveled, cold, decrepit heart- but yourself?”

Francis scowled. “Now where the hell did you get that idea? I just meant I don’t want to waste my energy or time with someone who isn’t gonna give me jack shit in return, not even a ‘thank you’. Get your story straight before you accuse me of anything, shrimp.”

“Shrimp? You can’t even hold a sword!” Matthew said, drying his tears on his sleeve. “Where’s your compassion? Your caring? Your kindness? Or did you never- no, of course you wouldn’t.” His voice dropped soft suddenly, and he turned away. “Let’s just keep going.”

They walked in an uncomfortable silence, Francis grumbling to himself and Matthew seeming somewhat meeker. Kaela walked between the two, keeping them separated, a hardened expression on her usually kind face. Asuka trailed behind, dragging her feet as she tried to think of a way to solve things… or to at least make them somewhat better.

“We… we could start in Karkaton?” She spoke up, suddenly. “That’s where I found them the first time- when…” She trailed off, seeing the cleric stop in his tracks. “I- I didn’t mean it like that, Francis, I just meant-”

“It’s fine.” He cut her off. “It’s better than nothing, no matter where you’re making your inferences from, I suppose.” He grit his teeth, turning back to face her and the others, “Bad memories aside, we have to remember we’re united on this… quest of ours.”

Kaela nodded, relaxing her shoulders and letting her gaze soften. “Right, we’ve got a shared goal. We can’t let any conflict get in between us, given the circumstances.”

Matthew didn’t reply, nor even look up at the man. He just shrugged deeper into his stance, eyes fixed on the ground.

“T-To Karkaton, then?” Asuka stammered, off put by the noble boy’s change in demeanor.

“To Karkaton.” Kaela and Francis echoed.

\-----------------

The overbearing heat that emanated from the rocky earth below and hung in the air like a suffocating steam was even worse than that of Neksdor. Extra coats and layers hung loosely around waists, as Asuka pulled out four of the spare princess fans and distributed them for proper self-cooling. The bubbling lava that spurted up from cracks and chasms along the path proved to be cause for lengthy detours- and even as the sun set again, the glow of the area kept a bright, albeit hostile aura cast over Karkaton. Glittery bursts of gold butterflies fluttered through the air, as the exhausted party kept their eyes out for anything out of place in the still monster infested hotland.

“Watch out, dark griffin flock, three o’ clock!” Asuka screamed, running as fast as she could.

“Three o’ clock? Did you schedule an appointment with these monsters?” Francis sputtered, following closely behind.

“Stop running! We can take them!” Kaela shouted after the two, standing her ground as the large birds closed in on her, their many-eyed wings all staring at her.

Meanwhile, Matthew running in a completely different direction, sword drawn as he leapt to attack-

His sword collided with a large rock.

“Did I get it?"

“That’s not a monster, Matthew!” Kaela shouted. “Get back here and fight! Same with you two over there!”

Asuka had stopped running, taking a deep breath and panting to get her air back. Francis had already started slowly migrating back over to the scene of the battle, but as Asuka regained her breath she zoomed past him, rushing into the fray. She gave a battle screech, leaping at one of the three griffins and latching onto its wing, stabbing her dagger into one of the eyes. It shrieked, and the others went to peck Asuka off, only to be barraged by a flurry of arrows from Kaela.

Matthew ran in, swinging his sword in a circle and slicing at the underbellies of the bird monsters, which shrieked louder in response. Francis had arrived by this time, and went to cast giga cure- only to find his magic drained out of him by the strongest of the griffins. He swore under his breath, casting a regular cure on Asuka, who’d taken a bit of a beating from the birds.

Asuka collapsed on the ground, thrown off by the fighting griffins, as Matthew leaped into the air and brought his sword down on one of them, which shrieked then burst into light, the eyes drifting off into the sky. 

“That’s one down!” He cheered, only to get cut off as one of the others swooped down on top of him, pecking him roughly in the face and chest. He screamed.

“Watch out, I’m on it!” Kaela shouted, sending more arrows into the bird’s back and wings. It too shrieked, bursting into light and setting free the eyes that had been trapped on its wings, as well as setting free Matthew from getting pinned. “One more, your turn, Francis!”

“Sure, okay-” Francis ran up and hit it with his staff.

“Okay, never mind, Asuka, you up?” 

“Wait- but I just-” Francis began to protest, but to no avail, as Asuka snuck up behind the bird and struck it down. 

“Got it!” She was breathing heavily- they all were. It was exhausting- that had been the third or fourth monster encounter in just the short distance they’d walked in Karkaton. The party regrouped, dusting themselves off as Francis healed everyone up at least a little, and then they continued onwards.

“Are you sure we’ll find anything here?” Kaela seemed to be losing motivation, giving a tired yawn as she kept trudging forward. Her purple hair had lost its volume, hanging in limp locks in front of her face that she wiped to the side with a sweat-soaked hand. “It’s so hot…”

“I- no, I never was sure…” Asuka mumbled, glad she had a short sleeved shirt and shorts. Running through the rocks in the rather cumbersome flower outfit two years ago had been… more troublesome.

“Worse comes to worse, we can go back to the castle and get our bearings. It’s not much farther ahead, right?” Francis said, surprisingly still high in his hopes- well, as high hopes as he usually had, which wasn’t much.

“Worse comes to worse we all die here and no one finds our bodies.” Matthew grumbled. Francis stopped in his tracks, turning to the boy.

“What happened to your spark? You were cheery as anything just earlier today!” He shouted.

“My spark? Oh, you’re talking about my spark, when you’re usually just as pessimistic? Maybe I wanted to fit in with the crowd, huh?” Matthew had a rather sour tone to his voice- one that Asuka hadn’t ever heard from the boy before.

“You’re still a kid, kids are supposed to be all happy-go-lucky, supposed to not care about danger and enjoy life!”

“Oh, oh yeah? You think so? I grew up living in the shadow of my father’s disgrace- I had to care about a lot of things, even just when I was a little kid!” Tears were welling in his eyes again. “Something you maybe wouldn’t understand, not everyone’s life is just peaches and cream, okay?”

“Something I wouldn’t understand? Something I wouldn’t understand?” Francis echoed, before laughing, “Oh, oh yeaah. I don’t understand it at all! It’s not like, oh, when I was your age I was working in a boring factory because my parents had cast me out and I was in a dead-end situation in life where all I had going for me was my own desire to live and even that wasn’t gonna last forever!”

“Well at least you still had parents! At least your dad didn’t abandon you and your mom before you were even ten years old!” 

“Hey, it’s not my fault you had a shit father!” 

Matthew’s hand went to his sword. “Well it wasn’t mine either! So lay off!”

“Oh, making threats now, kid? Real classy, if I were your dad I would’ve left ya at the first sign of trouble, too!”

Matthew drew his sword and pointed it at Francis. “Shut up.” Tears were streaming down his cheeks, which were red from his shouting, as he breathed heavily.

“No.” Francis glared.

Matthew screamed, and charged at Francis, swinging his sword down. A sharp clang rang out through the air as Francis hastily blocked it with his staff.

“Shit- kid, I didn’t realize you were serious- calm down!” 

Asuka and Kaela were jolted to attention at the sound of weapons clashing, the former having been busy fretting about the argument while the other tried to think of ways to calm them both down.

“Hey, hey! Don’t do that!” Asuka chirped, but it seemed neither of the two guys heard her. 

Matthew was pushing hard against Francis’ guard, and the taller man started sliding backwards from the surprisingly strong force that the young boy pushed with. 

“Matthew- Mattyboy, Matt- Blue- hey, hey hey-!” Francis was visibly sweating, nervous. 

Matthew just continued pushing. “I am on this quest to help. Don’t. Get. In. My. Way.” The boy was glaring at Francis, emotionless in his face, but pain in his gaze. He broke away, taking a step back, as Francis fell backwards, hitting the ground roughly. “The world’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I’ve had to learn that the hard way.” He nodded to the others. “Let’s keep going.”

Kaela went over and helped Francis up. “You really shouldn’t poke people like that- provoking anyone isn’t productive.” She murmured.

“It’s not my fault- the kid’s a nutcase!” Francis weakly tried to justify his actions. 

“He’s also, like you said, still a kid. Don’t bully kids, Francis- I would think that’d be obvious!” Kaela sighed, shaking her head.

Asuka had caught up with Matthew, who’d stomped ahead of the group. “Hey, hey- I’m sorry about him, I didn’t realize he was going to be like this.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine…” Matthew sniffed, and Asuka realized he was crying again. 

“Matthew?”

“I- I’ll tell you about it later. Let’s just… keep moving.” The boy rubbed his sleeve across his face, sheathing his sword again, then stared ahead at the path. “We gotta do this, for the sake of all those lost people…”

They soon arrived at an inn, a rather rundown stone building, almost blending in with the rest of the rocky environment.

“Finally, someplace to rest…” Kaela gave a relieved sigh, rushing in. Matthew followed, leaving Asuka and Francis outside for the moment. The short thief turned to the weary man.

“What’s up with you?” She said, tilting her head to the side. “Why are you and Matthew butting heads so much?”

“Why are we... what?” Francis squinted down at Asuka. “Repeat that?”

“Why are you two arguing so much?” She put her hands on her hips, frowning.

“It’s been maybe twice.”

“Within the past few hours!” She threw her arms up. “If you didn’t want him along you should’ve said something earlier, but you can’t keep antagonizing him!”

“He had a problem with me, not the other way around.” Francis crossed his arms. “Besides…” He trailed off, looking past Asuka and into the distance. “There’s something… off, about that kid.”

“Off?”

“Something that just rubs me the wrong way. I’d… keep an eye on him, if I were you.” He scoffed. “Stupid kid…”

“Okay, but in return, you need to stop provoking people! Just because you’re a jerk doesn’t mean you can just be rude to people- especially not when we’re meant to be working together.” She slumped her shoulders. “I trust you, so… we’ll make this work. No matter what.”

Francis was silent for a moment, before patting Asuka on the head. “I get what you’re sayin’, squirt. I’ll be nice.” He sighed, “Just understand I’ve no intention of… lying to people, I suppose.”

“Blunt honesty, huh?”

“Yup.”

Asuka sighed, looking up at the now dark night sky. “You’re a lot like her.”

“Her...?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Francine- she’s that kind of honest, too. Speaks her mind, and fights anyone who gets in her way about it.” She closed her eyes. “I hope she’s alright- same with all the others…”

“...yeah, me too.” Francis muttered. “I’m headed inside- if you’re going to keep reflecting on your life decisions or whatever, at least don’t get killed. Alright?”

“Okay, thanks, Francis.” Asuka laughed. Francis nodded, then went inside the inn.

Asuka sat down on the hard ground, leaning back and feeling the warmth that pulsed through the earth. She let herself drift off to sleep, letting her memories meld with her hopes.

\-------------

Her sleep, tonight, was filled only with still images.

Kazuo’s face, on a grinning purple cloud.

Monica’s, on a bubbling orange slime that radiated an awful heat.

Haruko’s, on a stony golem that shook the ground with every step.

Francine, Melanie, Akiko- barking at her, breathing fire and pain from each of the mouths of the enormous three-headed dog.

Natsuki, frozen in place, flat, trapped in the frame with the Dark Lord’s image tainting her own beauty.

Katsuye, left on a burly demon that laughed every time it hurt someone.

Rikuto, with blank eyes that shone the same as the metal of the armor that his image was stuck to- of the horrid clanking of ghostly steel.

Her friends, at the mercy of monsters.

Her friends, as monsters.

Her friends.

Monsters.

Monsters.

Monsters.

Mon-

\-----------

She woke up with a start, breathing fast. She looked around, then up at the sky.

It hadn’t even been a few hours, it seemed.

She stood up, brushed herself off, and walked inside, closing the inn door quietly behind her. She walked to an empty room, and snuggled into a bed, trying not to think on the past- or on the future.

Her friends… they were going to be fine.

They all were going to be fine.

A tear rolled down the side of her face as she shut her eyes tightly.

They had to be.

\--------------

_ “Hey, Asuka?” The new mage had called the thief over to his room at the inn. He adjusted his glasses as she sat down. _

_ “Hm- what’s up, Kazuo?” Asuka smiled at her new friend, folding her hands in her lap. _

_ “I know it’s… been a week or so, since I’ve joined you, and Rikuto, and Francine. I’ve been really glad to be a part of your team here, but…” He trailed off, a frown lining his lips. _

_ “B-but?” A shiver ran up Asuka’s spine, and she pressed her lips tightly together. _

_ “I- uh… I’m not sure how to say this.” He gave a sheepish laugh, slinging an arm behind his head. _

_ Asuka sighed, shaking her head, “If it’s a love confession, I don’t think of you that way- sorry man! I’m sure you’ll find someone out there who can-” _

_ “It’s not that.” His voice was cold, his expression serious. _

_ “O-oh, okay- so, spit it out then!” _

_ “Well… I just wanted to say.” He started. _

_ “Wanted to say…?” Asuka echoed, her eyes widening slightly. No, this couldn’t be… he couldn’t possibly- _

_ “I remember you.” _

_ “...remember me-?” Her worst fears had been confirmed. _

_ “Yeah. How could I ever forget you?” _

_ “...” She wanted to disappear, she wanted to run again, she wanted to try to kill him again- _

_ “Just… never thought I’d see you again, Blake.” Kazuo smiled, gently. _

_ She hadn’t wanted her past to catch up to her like this. _


	7. Sage's Return

The sun shone brightly through the windows, breaking through the gray clouds that seemed to almost always occupy the dim sky. Asuka gave a yawn, rubbing her forehead. The nightmares from the night before had tucked her out already- but she wasn’t completely out of it. She stretched, hopping out of bed, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, meandering out of the room.

She heard a distinct knock echo through the building- it was coming from the door. Once, twice, three times. Asuka stared at it- unsure if whoever was outside was friend or foe. If they wanted in, they could talk.

“Knock knock~!” A feminine voice echoed from the inn door, and Asuka ran over to it, throwing it open. In the doorway stood a familiar ally and friend, and Asuka barely was able to keep herself from squealing with excitement, her earlier suspicion turning into an abundance of joy.

“Marina!” She gave the sage a hug, burying her face in the light colored, fluffy robe. “You’re here! You’re here!” She pulled back. “Wait. Why are you here?” She tilted her head to the side, a quizzical look on her face.

Marina only gave a warm smile. “I heard you needed some assistance, and I was in the area… so it just worked out.” The bird woman stepped inside, letting the door swing gently shut behind her. Asuka had a million questions running through her mind- how did she know that- well, she was the sage… how did she know where- well, she was the sage… when did she- well, she was the sage… what about-

“Are you alone?” Asuka tilted her head to the side. “What about Maiche- I thought he was training with you?”

“Maiche? They’ve been working very hard. I left them on their own to set out here… but I trust they’re taking good care of themself while I’m away. They’re aware of where I am- we’ve set up camp back in Haven Hollow for the time being, so they’ll be safe.” Asuka gave a slight nod, taking into account how the sage described the reborn. She’d not wanted to make assumptions- prior experience with Maiche had shown him to prefer to shift from day to day- not that she minded, she just worried about referring to him- them- incorrectly at the given moment. 

But Marina had been working alongside them for two years- she knew them probably better than anyone else alive. Either way- it wasn’t the first time either of them had been in the company of someone who tended to present themselves in different fashions. Asuka’s thoughts lingered for a moment on Kaela- the elf had been responding positively to the appeal of the ‘Fairy Sisters’, even past prior fluidity- perhaps in support of Bea and her transition-? Perhaps not- she’d learned of the sibling trio’s personal secrets on a few lonesome nights back during her adventure, and by then Bea was already presenting fully as female... Did elves really have genders…? Well, perhaps so- but maybe it didn’t-

“We’ve been exploring the wilds. It’s much more peaceful out like that- we only have to worry for ourselves and for the monsters that surround us. Perhaps that’s given us the blessing of not being whisked away as I’ve heard has happened to so many others…” Asuka tuned back in to Marina’s ramble. “But I’m here to help you now- so we’ll make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

“R-right, of course!” She grinned. “With you here, we’ll have a better time of things, I’m sure!”

Marina nodded, before flipping her hood over her fluffy hair, brushing a few loose strands out of her eyes. “I believe I’d heard you were travelling with others, correct?”

“Right!” Asuka clapped her hands together, before turning back to the hallway and yelling, “-hey everybody! Wake up! Great Sage Marina’s here!” 

A slight thundering of footsteps creaked along the wooden floors of the inn as Kaela was the first to come out and down. She rushed over, giving a slight whistle of awe at the sight of the sage. “The real thing? In the flesh?” She murmured softly, smiling brightly at Marina, who gave a chuckle and smiled back. 

“The one and only!”

Kaela gave a nod, clasping her hands over one of Marina’s. “It’s a pleasure to get to work with you again!” 

“The feeling’s mutual, Kaela- it’s been far too long! How have you been faring? How are your sisters, how is your home, how are things?”

“Good, good, good, and wonderful.” Kaela responded, leaning up on her tiptoes to adjust the sage’s robe- it had been slightly askew on her shoulders. “I see you’re keeping up nicely as well- but you do have to keep focusing on all the patterns in life, darling! Even something as simple as an uneven hem can spell disaster if you’re not careful!”

Marina laughed. “Of course, my mistake-” She leaned over and planted a soft kiss to the fairy’s forehead. “-but that’s why it’s all the better that we’re able to work together again, you can help me keep the little details in check.” She leaned back and smiled, pressing her hands to her heart.

Matthew peeked out of his room, before slowly meandering to the door. He stared up at Marina, dumbstruck. “You’re…. Tall.” He wasn’t at all wrong, the woman towered over even the tallest of them, it seemed- Asuka had estimated her to be around seven feet tall, which made her feel ever more subconscious about her height- two feet lesser than the sage, so she looked up to Marina in multiple ways.

Marina laughed again, a bright tone filled with joy and warmth. “Indeed I am- you must be the to-be King of Greenhorne?”

“Matthew’s fine, just call me that-” He waved the comment off, “-it’s more familiar, anyways.” He stuck his hand out for her to shake. “It’s good to finally meet you, I’ve heard countless stories about your adventures and how you help people- one day, I hope I can rule with enough grace and power that I can help people like you do!” 

Marina shook his hand, nodding. “I’m sure you’ll get there, you look to be the kind sort- those types often go very far in life.”

“He’s more stubborn than he looks.” Another voice rang out from the hallway, as Francis emerged. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Mari?” He chuckled, walking over. “How’s my favorite bird doing?”

Marina laughed, putting a hand to her face as slight color rose to her cheeks. “Don’t call me that, Francis- don’t I deserve that much respect?” She moved over to him and wrapped him in a large hug, humming softly. “This heat’s probably a big change for you, isn’t it? From all the storm in New Lumos…”

“I guess- but don’t get your feathers in a twist, I’m fine.” He huffed. 

Matthew tilted his head to the side. “Feathers?”

Marina let go of Francis, and nodded, moving over between them. She slid her hood back down and waved her hands over the sides of her face and her neck, as a cloaking spell dispelled, revealing tufts of soft, small feathers along her cheeks and neck, along her eyebrows and even in her eyelashes. “I’m from Peculia- I was just born this way, feathers and all.”

“Are all people from Peculia like that?” He asked, eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“There aren’t many, usually- but I believe so, right, Asuka?”

“Wait, you have feathers too?!” Matthew exclaimed, rushing over to the girl. Asuka waved her hands in front of her, shaking her head. 

“No, I don’t- but I adventured with people from Peculia- Bea, Akiko, and Natsuki- they don’t have the same sorts of feathers that Marina has, but they have wings, sort of…” She explained.

Matthew whirled around back to Marina. “Do you have wings, too?” He was almost dancing in place with his excitement.

Kaela and Marina laughed at his antics. “Well, take a look!” Marina smiled, slowly unfastening the ties on her robe and letting it drop to the wooden floor. She had a light pink silk shirt underneath, over lavender trousers, but what was most noticeable were the light brown and gray wings that unfurled from her back. They were huge, their folded length stretching from her ankles to past her head. She gave a sigh of relief, relaxing as she stretched them out. “Ahh… it gets a bit cramped, keeping them tucked in all the time…”

Matthew gasped in awe, reaching his hands out to try to touch the feathers, before hesitating. “Can I?” He asked, his voice light and hopeful, as he turned to look at Marina. She nodded, and he began running his hands along the large feathers of her wings. They curled slightly under his gentle touch, as he murmured quietly, “...So soft… they’re beautiful...” 

“I’m glad you think so, I try to keep them nice and neat.” Marina hummed, before folding them back up and slinging her robe lazily around herself again. Kaela immediately began fussing about fixing it. “Kaela, Kaela, honey, it’s fine.” 

Francis looked a little disgruntled, but he simply crossed his arms and tugged his hat forward to shade his eyes. “Now that our party’s gotten yet another member… are we going to get a move on?” 

“Ah, yes, right, of course, good thinking, Francis. We’ve no time to waste, after all.” Marina nodded. She walked back to open the door and crossed outside, looking back at the others. “Shall we?”

Taking hesitant steps out into the world again, the comfort and security of the inn melting away as she passed back through the doorway, Asuka tensed slightly, clenching her hands into fists. A hand on her left shoulder made her relax, as she smiled up at Marina.

“It’s all going to be alright, I promise.” Asuka smiled gratefully at the sage’s words.

“Onwards!” Matthew cheered, his excitement reinvigorated. “So, do we just keep looking around here, or…?” He trailed off, fidgeting with his belt and tapping his feet erratically.

“Well, we haven’t explored every nook and cranny of this part of Karkaton- your thoughts, Marina? A fresh set of eyes might help open our perspectives.” Kaela noted.

“I haven’t seen any trace of other human life, aside from you four, in this area.” Marina narrowed her eyes. “Haven Hollow’s also deserted, and we’ve been in Karkaton for a fair while now.”

“Then… what if we go to the castle?” Francis repeated his earlier suggestion. “We’re bound to find something there.”

“Brilliant idea, Francis.” She grinned. “Worst case and we don’t find anything, we’ll at least get a better view of the surroundings from the windows up top.” She gave him a thumbs up and he smiled sheepishly, slinging an arm behind his head.

“To the castle!” Asuka and Matthew cheered, Asuka raising her dagger  in the air and Matthew raising his fist. The group of five- the quintet of adventurers- set off again into the wilds.

The deep, shifting earthy tones that lined the ground under their feet apparently made for an interesting pattern for Marina to watch, as she kept her head mostly bowed, following behind.

“Something the matter, birdie?” Francis asked, giving her a slight nudge. She turned to look at him, shaking her head.

“No, not at all- I’m simply trying to track the veins of magic, see if anything is perhaps… misaligned.”

“Veins of magic?” Francis twirled his staff in his free hand as he sidled closer to the sage. “Didn’t know magic had a bloodstream.”

Marina laughed. “Well, it’s more that the world has a bloodstream of magic- though I suppose it’s not dissimilar to veins in terms of ore… when the world hurts, you can feel it in the magic. Since we’re all connected to our world, even the existence of hostile monsters and wounded humans can alter parts of the magic. It’s what I follow.” She tapped her staff on the ground as they walked, and little sparks, swirls of light blue magic seemed to poof up at every contact. “You see, this magic isn’t coming from me, nor my staff- it’s the earth’s magic. Still pure, by the looks of it.”

“What do you mean by… ‘what you follow’?” Francis watched her intently.

“I mean, it’s what leads me where I go. Where misery flourishes, pure magic withers. It keeps me on the trail, ready to help people, because I always follow the problem spots.”

“That’s interesting…” He hummed, trying to mimic her movements with his staff. Nothing happened, but he continued to do the same, watching closely. Marina didn’t seem to mind.

The sky dimmed as they trekked onwards, reaching the mouth of a cave. “Just through here… we’re close. Watch your step, be careful.” Marina murmured.

“Right- don’t burn yourselves, guys.” Asuka said, leading ahead. As they entered, the heat seemed to only intensify. Bubbling lava pools popped and hissed under bridges that seemed woefully thin.

“I’ve never been somewhere like this before…” Matthew shivered, wiping some sweat from his brow. “Is it safe?”

“Safe enough.” Francis remarked grimly.

“Just keep focused on going forward, don’t look down.” Kaela gave a hopeful smile, taking dainty steps as she began to cross one of the plank bridges between stones. Her delicate yet elegant stance seemed to waver slightly, a cautious air taking over her every movement.

“Right, what Kaela said-” Asuka started to follow behind, keeping a light-footed walk as she began to cross as well. The wooden planks weren’t flammable, but they creaked ominously under their feet. Slow, careful footsteps sounded across the bridge as, one by one, they all began to cross- Matthew behind Asuka, Francis behind Matthew, and Marina behind Francis.

Asuka began to sing quietly, trying to calm her nerves. “Doo doo doo do do do… and after all there’s something perfectly clear… in this life we must endure-”

“Hush!” Matthew hissed behind her. “I’m trying to focus!” The boy was trembling a little behind her.

“Chin up, you’ll be fine if you calm down, the both of you- we’ll be safe.” Kaela chimed in. A sudden crack interrupted their discussion, sounding loudly through the air as Francis gave a loud yell, and the three ahead of him turned. 

He had gotten his foot wedged between the planks, and was teetering haphazardly, his arms waving wildly in an attempt to regain his balance. Marina leapt into action, sticking her staff out to brace against his side that was leaning over the edge, gently supporting him until he swayed back onto the bridge and could steady himself.

“That was close- are you alright, Francis?” She asked, as he dislodged his foot and took a deep sigh.

“Sure, yeah, just almost died, no big deal.” He grumbled. 

“But you didn’t!” Marina clapped him gently on the back as she walked over to him, before suddenly wrapping an arm around his waist and hoisting him up. He gave a surprised yelp as Marina roughly slung him over one shoulder, holding her staff in her other hand. “There, you’ll be safe like this!”

“Marina!” Francis protested weakly.

Kaela had reached the other side of the bridge, turning to help Asuka and Matthew over, and laughed at the sight of Marina carrying Francis. “Well that’s quite a sight!”

“Carry him bridal style!” Asuka hollered, cackling at the two.

“Don’t you dare-” Francis tried to say, before Marina swung him around again and cradled him in her arms. He was splayed out, looking rather gangly as he dangled awkwardly, tall enough to make him accidentally bump foreheads with the sage.

Marina giggled, breaking into a run across the bridge. The planks didn’t waver at all as she hopped recklessly from step to step. She arrived with the others, and gently set Francis down. The man stuck his arms out to steady himself, looking dizzy and all around disoriented from the experience. 

“You’re nuts.” He huffed, but a smile rested on his lips.

“Let’s just keep going!” Asuka started skipping backwards, glad to be back on stable ground. She had never been a huge fan of Karkaton- bad memories and all that- but adventuring with her friends was always a good way to send those thoughts away. She turned and started leading the group further through the cave, grinning widely as an exit came into view.

“Heck yeah!” Matthew cheered. “We made it, and nothing bad happened!”

“Don’t jinx us…” Francis laughed, but he seemed relieved as well.

They walked out into the open air, the castle in view further down the path. Asuka broke into a run, throwing her arms in the air with reckless abandon. She skidded to a halt as she almost ran off of the edge of the path, stopping right in front of a large pool of lava. “I think we turn here!” She shouted to the others. Sure enough, the path split two ways, around the pool on either side. She turned and waited for the other four to get there, then shrugged.

“We’ll get to our destination either way…” Kaela mused.

“Right is always right.” Matthew offered, but he seemed equally nonchalant about the decision.

“Going by that logic, we should go left.” Francis snickered.

Marina’s eyes widened. “Behind you!” She shrieked, pointing her staff at a pillar of lava that was rising up from the pool, swirling in a spiral. It solidified into a polygonal form, and an Angry Queen screamed at the group.

“I thought those things were only in New Lumos!” Francis sputtered as he stumbled back, brandishing his staff. 

“Where did you think they came from?” Asuka yelled, turning and taking a battle stance. “Neon lava doesn’t exist!”

“Oh, screw off, I don’t go places!”

“Focus, friends!” Kaela interrupted, drawing an arrow and letting it fly toward the monster- only to see it nimbly sidestep the attack.

“She’s got a point, we need to work together on this!” Matthew shouted, taking a defensive stance as the Angry Queen rushed at him, trying to rake fiery claws down his front. He braced himself for the impact, then countered with a slash to its torso.

Kaela fired back some more arrows to cover him, and the monster roared. Marina flinched at the sound, steadying herself on her staff but looking rather rattled. Francis also seemed frozen by the screech, at least for the moment.

Asuka rolled behind the monster and leapt up to strike down on its back, landing on the ground and covering her head just in case it attacked her.

Francis looked confused as he snapped out of his trance, but murmured a spell as golden healing magic swirled weakly around Matthew, patching up the damage he’d taken.

The monster swirled her hands together, a dark pulse rippling between them, and she sent it out toward Marina. The sage reeled back, steadying herself after a moment, eyes closed. She opened them, and her sclera had turned pitch black, as a devious smile spread across her lips and a demented giggle rang through the air. 

“Ahahahaheehee-!” She trilled, twirling her staff, before rushing at Kaela, raising her staff up to strike down upon the elf. Kaela brought up a magical shield, deflecting the blow as the sage bounced almost comically off of the surface. 

Marina stumbled backwards, then turned and lunged toward Asuka. The thief rolled out of the way, and struck again at the Angry Queen, which recoiled from the blow. “Someone snap her out of it!” She shouted.

Francis leapt at the sage, wrapping his arms around her as he hollered, “Marina, come back to us!” He was roughly thrown to the ground, as the dark-eyed sage turned her attention to him. She grabbed him by the back of his coat in one hand, and lifted him off of the ground. “Marina, Marina, let go, let go!” Francis started freaking out, struggling.

Meanwhile, Asuka was running from the Angry Queen, as it continued to tear the ground out from under her feet. Fire and lava chased her as she kept running. A fireball nearly singed her clothes as it whizzed past her head, hitting a boulder and shattering it. The burst of fire hissed as she screamed and ducked down, shielding herself from the explosion in front of her. “We need to get this under controooool-!” She yelled at Kaela and Matthew, who were watching and slowly approaching Marina.

The sage was carrying Francis to the lava pool, and was about to drop him in, when an arrow sliced the shoulder of her other arm. She turned, dropping Francis safely on the ground, to glare at Kaela. Matthew took the moment to rush at Marina and jump, reaching up to slap her in the face.

“Snap out of it!” He hollered, and Marina blinked, the darkness fading from her gaze. Looking around and realizing what had occurred, a snarl formed on her lips.

“Tower of Flame!” She yelled, as the ground beneath the Angry Queen erupted, and the monster was torn apart in the same energy that had created it. The face floated away, and the air once again grew quiet, as everyone gave a collective sigh of relief.

“You, my good dear, are scary as all hell.” Francis grunted, standing up. 

“I had no intention of hurting you- we all can be sway to the darkness, however…” Marina twiddled her thumbs, looking rather remorseful. “I’m sorry for falling so easily.”

“Don’t be that way, Mari!” Asuka walked over and placed a hand reassuringly on the sage’s elbow- partially because it was all she could comfortably reach. “We all mess up every now and then, no one’s perfect.”

“Well… back to the matter at hand. Right or left?” Kaela said. 

“Right.” Francis said, just as Matthew said, “Left.” They turned to glare at each other, before breaking into awkward laughter.

“Let’s go right. It looks like a clearer path.” Marina murmured, starting off in that direction.

“Well, okay!” Asuka went along with it, following behind as the others shrugged to each other and also began to follow, Francis trailing behind a little bit. They continued along the path rather uneventfully, in moderate silence. Something felt off- Asuka chalked it up to awkwardness from the battle earlier. Wasn’t exactly easy to talk when someone’d been mind controlled to try to kill a friend… right? Or… hm… She continued to try to justify the silence, barely registering that they’d arrived at the inn until she was shuffled into a room and was sitting on a bed.

She blinked, surfacing back into the moment. “What’d you say?” She looked to Marina, who was folding her robe up, getting ready to sleep.

“I didn’t say a word.”

“Oh- right, okay, my bad.” She hummed to herself for a moment. “Can we talk about some things, Marina?”

The sage finished getting herself ready and snuggled under the thin covers. The inns in Karkaton weren’t very well maintained, but they at least were suited for the environment. “Of course- what would you like to talk about?”

Asulka layed back on her bed, burying an arm under her pillow. “I mean, it’s more of a question of why things are they way they are- like… we defeated the dark curse, so… why are monsters still out and about? I thought we’d saved all the faces, and yet…” She trailed off, looking at the sage expectantly.

Marina blinked, processing the question, putting a hand to her chin as she stared up at the ceiling. “The Dark Curse’s monsters? Well, you see, it’s actually quite simple. The monsters we face are simply the remnants of their dark magic. When they created them, it wasn’t as if they were corrupting the small monster population, not by any means. That would take far too much energy, hence why they reserved it for singular monsters, such as your dragon friend. It would be easier for them to simply create the images of monsters, and give those forms the ability to hold faces. However, even with their defeat, the monsters still linger, as a result of leftover aggression.”

“So they’re just the leftovers…” Asuka mused quietly.

“If I might add, the numbers are decreasing. I’d like to see a day where there are no more traces of the foul event, save what the world remembers of it. I’m sure Maiche would like that, too. They’ve come so far since then… I’m so-” She sat up and held a hand to her face, stifling a tremble. “-I’m so proud of them…”

Asuka gave a sheepish laugh. “I didn’t mean to get you so emotional, Mari- it’s okay, it’s okay!” She got out of bed, walked over, and tried to awkwardly pat the sage’s back. Marina pulled her into a hug, laughing.

“I’m okay, I’m okay- honestly, I’m just happy… things are going to turn out okay, I promise.”

“Of course they are!” Asuka chirped, hugging the woman back. “We’ll make sure of it, right?”

Marina pulled away, smiling widely. “Right. Now go get some rest, I’ve got a plan to help find your friends, but we need to make sure the conditions are right to try it.”

Asuka gasped. “Really?!” She rushed over to her bed and got back in.

“Really.” Marina echoed. She then turned to face away from the thief, and started to snore- having fallen asleep rather quickly.

Asuka let her excitement gradually diminish, closing her eyes and being filled with a wondrous hope. Finally, they were going to get somewhere with this.

\-------------

Asuka opened her eyes, feeling soft grass surround her body as she slowly sat up. She was sitting at a cliffside- over by Easin Hills, by the looks of it. She looked down at her clothes- she wasn’t wearing her thief outfit, rather her traveler clothes. A gentle breeze blew through the air, lifting her hair and blowing it in her face. She gave a slight hum of surprise, brushing her black bangs out of her face. She looked up into the sky- bright blue, with nary a cloud to be seen.

She couldn’t remember much of anything except for who she was. Then, all at once, strange memories began to fill her mind, flashing in front of her like a distorted movie. 

 

A blue haired boy, clad in the clothes of a noble, coughing up blood. 

An orange haired prince, in a stunning pink dress, watching, horrified. 

The sneer on the face of a freckled purple being, with eyes filled with utter wrath. 

 

The loud guffaw of a blonde djinn, bright green eyes mocking her with their delight.

A gentle smile on a lavender haired woman, wielding a purple staff and clad in a robe that reminded her of the depths of night.

Bright purple eyes shining from under equally bright pink locks- but a face she couldn’t even begin to recognize.

 

Three sisters. The icy gaze of the one in purple, a fiery grin from the one in orange, and an electric ferocity from the one in green.

 

She looked down at her clothes again. Right, the gold outfit that she preferred to wear- it was a light silk, much nicer to deal with in the heat of her home, Neksdor. She adjusted the wide hat that rested on her raven locks, making sure the feather was positioned correctly. She was royalty, and she needed to show that.

She began to walk off into the sandy desert, passing cacti and rock formations, keeping an eye out for scorpions. Her guards were useless, not even able to dispense of a griffin…

 

Asuka blinked. The meadow had returned. Her head throbbed, as if two separate truths had just become simultaneously real, and she couldn’t comprehend them both. She looked up at the bright blue sky- but it was no longer blue.

Dark threads spread across the sky, not unlike a spiderweb, streaking across the horizon as far as her eyes could see. They seemed to be widening, as well, consuming the sky in a shadowy blanket, weaving slowly together to cover everything. 

She felt a terror unlike anything she’d ever felt before, but she couldn’t place what exactly she was afraid of. Something inside her felt as if it was wavering- as if her very existence was merely a candle’s flame, and that it had begun flickering, flickering-

-and was blown out.

\-------------


	8. What You See Of Me

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.    
Asuka’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of a rhythmic thumping against the floorboards.    
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

She sat up, looking over to the other bed. Marina was tapping the end of her staff against the floor, in a circle, as soft glowing circles dotted where she was tapping. “Marina-?” She murmured softly, rubbing her eyes. 

The sage looked up, tilting her head to the side. “Ah, you’re finally up! It’s already midday, you know...”

Asuka stretched her arms up, yawning. She hadn’t meant to sleep in as much, but it couldn’t be helped. “Yeah… what’re you doing…?”

“Just preparing a spell- in order to find your friends, we need to do some…. storytelling.”

“Storytelling?” Asuka cocked her head to the side.

“Yeah, to help… focus our minds. If we tell our experiences, our feelings, our secrets, we can try to latch onto the magical signature of their forms. Since you knew them all the best, perhaps you might have any memories to bring up? If you’re up for it, of course…” Marina folded her hands in her lap, smiling warmly. The mark on the floor faded, but Asuka could feel a crackle of… something like electricity in the air. Magic, perhaps. 

“Well… I could just tell little day-to-day things, I guess…”

“Go right ahead.”

“Well, uh… Haruko loves snurps. She really can’t bring herself to hurt them- so Akiko and Natsuki usually distract her when we have to fight any… one day she convinced Rikuto to try to help her spare a whole herd of them, ten or so, and the funny thing is, it actually worked!” She laughed, remembering how happy the young tank was as the last snurp hopped away.

“Aw, that’s precious…” Marina hummed.

“That reminds me of another time- Francine and I were training, and Melanie decided to sneak up behind Francine and dump a bucket of water on her head! She was so mad, it was scary- but when she saw it was Melanie she laughed it off… I never really understood what goes on between them, apparently it’s basically a prank war… but for life.”

“Sounds… interesting.” The sage laughed, but was concentrating on a singular spot on the floor.

“It gets pretty wild sometimes- though we all manage. We have a lot of fun together, the ten of us- sometimes some long sleepless nights- oh man, this one time, Katsuye held a karaoke contest at the inn…” She rested her face in her hands. “She said Monica was the winner even though the chef can’t even stay on pitch- though there’s no hard feelings or anything, hahah- she’s allowed to favor her girlfriend, and we all expected it- it was just a really fun night!”

“You all sound like you get along rather well.”

“We do, we really do…” Asuka rested her chin in her hands. “Is that at all helping…?”

“The more emotion the better… you can trust me, Asuka, I’ll keep this all between us. You can be open with me… I’ll be open with you in return.”

Asuka shrugged. “I’m not sure where to start-” 

“Start at the beginning. Wherever you feel strongly.”

“Well, I actually knew one of my teammates before the adventure got started… Kazuo, to be specific. We… we were friends, back when we were kids. Neighbors.” She gave a laugh, remembering the days of her childhood.

“Aww, that’s sweet. I imagine you were happy to see each other in Greenhorne?”

“N...not exactly. This is...a bit of a long story… but, uh… long story short I…” Stronger emotions meant it’d be easier to find him, she remembered. So she took a deep breath, and continued. “I tried to kill him, then I fled our town. Changed my name, my appearance, everything. It… wasn’t my proudest moment, to say the absolute least.”

“T-tried to kill him?” Marina looked slightly shocked at the revelation. “Whatever for?”

Asuka gave a sheepish laugh. “Envy? Jealousy? All those green emotions? He was… he was doing well in school, doing well with people, doing well in life… and I guess I felt like he was leaving me behind.” She frowned, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “It was… hard to accept that.”

“I- I see… well, it’s a good thing you were unsuccessful in your attempt, then, and that you’ve… changed, since then?” She was hesitant, as if choosing her words carefully. Asuka rolled her eyes.

“Eh, I’m… still me. That’s what matters.” She gave a sigh. “So… will that help any?”

Marina gave a slight hum, closing her eyes and concentrating, then gave a slow nod. “Yes. I can detect his signature, based from what you’ve told me.” She went to stand up, but looked out the window. “Oh… it’s gotten far too late to go out tonight. We’d never make it to another inn in time… and I’d rather not just go out into the wilderness, not here.” She slumped back down, laughing and turning back to Asuka. “But on the other hand, I’m in no mood to sleep, got any more memories?”

“Well, actually, what about you, then, Marina? I think I’ve said enough about my time and life…” Asuka was still a little rattled from recounting her darker days, even if only a very small snippet. Marina nodded, getting herself comfy in her bed, before speaking.

“Where to start, where to start… I’ll start with after you saved the land- to be honest, I travelled completely alone up until that point- even with seeing you and your friends every so often- so I don’t exactly have much interesting in terms of people I’m close to from then.”

“Okay, I get it, don’t worry.” Asuka leaned back on her bed. “Go right ahead.”

“When Maiche and I began travelling, it was actually… pretty awkward. They understood that I respected them and cared for them, but-”

A loud slam echoed through the room as the door burst open, a frantic Francis brandishing his staff. He pointed it at Marina, and yelled. “I need you to get out of here, right now, before I blast your head off!” 

Marina’s eyes widened, startled by the sudden outburst. “Francis? Are you alri-”

“I said get out!” He hollered again, jabbing the end of his staff toward her.

“You can’t fire anything from that, Francis… what the hell’s wrong with you, anyways?” Asuka piped up. “What’s got you like this anyways?”

“I’ll explain when this bitch gets out of my damn sight.” Francis growled, gritting his teeth.

“Calm down! Francis, oh my stars, you’re acting like a raving lunatic- why are you being so rude?” She went to say something more, but Marina held up a hand to silence her, slowly getting up.

“It’s no big deal, Asuka. If our friend here wants to talk to you, he only needed tp ask.” She nodded to Francis. “I’m afraid I don’t know what I did to suddenly incur your wrath, but I’ll seek to remedy it in the future.” She crossed over to the door, as Francis stepped into the room to give her a wide berth, and left, as Francis hastily shut the door behind her. 

Asuka gave a sigh, sitting up on her bed, then glared at Francis. “What, in the name of all that is good and pure in this world, are you doing?!” She yelled, bristling.

Francis ignored her outrage, sitting himself down on Marina’s bed and resting his staff on the floor. “I needed to get her out of earshot- besides, dealing with a demon or whatever’s got her means I can’t be friendly.”

“A demon? Since when was the GREAT SAGE a demon?” 

“Since- hell, I don’t know- but she’s been acting oddly ever since she get here- so whatever’s out there-” He pointed to the door, “-isn’t Marina. It’s an impostor.”

“I have...no idea how you got that stupid idea. But go ahead, try to justify it- I’ll listen to idiots ramble if it means you’ll calm down.”

“Shut up, I know what I’m doing. I know Marina. That is not Marina. Do you even hear her? She doesn’t act like Marina, she doesn’t sound like Marina-”

“She acts the same that she has since I met her in Greenhorne. I’ve known her longer than you have, so don’t even try that.” Marina hadn’t changed. Francis was just being delusional… something had happened to him, perhaps.

“No. She doesn’t.” He shook his head quickly. “She doesn’t have the same memories- just ask her! She doesn’t remember anything aside from major events, she doesn’t remember talking to me or anyone else, she doesn’t remember anything that someone couldn’t just ask someone else to find out about.”

“Do you remember everything you’ve ever done?” Asuka shot back.

Francis hesitated, before shaking his head. “No, I don’t, but I-”

“Then you have no right to accuse her of being a demon!” Asuka threw her arms up in the air. “Demons don’t even work that way, we’ve seen as much with the monsters, so get a grip!”

“I’m just telling you, she’s not my- she’s not Marina!” Francis grit his teeth, clenching his hands into fists. “This morning, she threatened me.”

“Threatened you? No way.” Asuka growled. “You’re making stuff up.”

“She did!” Francis said, then rolled up his left sleeve. A red mark was visible on his upper arm. “She hit me with her staff when I confronted her about her actions!”

“Then what do you suggest we do? Kick her out?” Asuka was shrieking and yelling now, anger filling her mind. He probably faked the hit, or it was old, she thought. Marina wouldn’t hit one of her friends- not without good reason, of course.

“Yes! If we won’t strike her down, we at least need to protect ourselves!” He pleaded, anger and fear creasing his features.

“Protect ourselves? She’s the best thing that’s happened to us in this whole journey! She’s protecting us, we don’t need to protect ourselves from her. Get your facts straight before you yell like that again.” She growled. 

“Asuka, she’s only been here a day. You can’t know if things will stay this way- you saw how she treated me! You saw what she did!”

“Saw what she did- she saved your ass!” She threw her arms out, tensing. “You probably got that mark yesterday when you fell! You can’t prove she did that this morning.”

“She was the reason I was in danger in the first place! She pushed me, and then tried to throw me in the lava! And besides, you weren’t awake this morning, so how would you know?”

“No, you tripped, and the monster made her act evil. We all saw it. S-stop trying to blame her for your mistakes! Get over it! She’s been in this room the whole day! Stop accusing her!”

“I’m not blaming Marina. I’m blaming whatever’s stolen her image. Marina wouldn’t have done that to me. She’s stronger than that, she’s stronger than anything-” Francis stared at Asuka, and she saw a strange twinge of fog in his gaze- it just flickered for a second, like a passing cloud, but she swore that she saw darkness in his eyes. He took a deep breath. “I love Marina.” Something clicked in the thief’s mind, and Asuka felt the words slip from her lips before she could think about what she was saying.

“Does she love you?” 

Francis recoiled backwards. “I- well- I don’t-” He blushed, gritting his teeth together. Well, that gave her an answer. The man was lovesick and resentful because his feelings weren’t reciprocated. She knew how he felt- but this was just too low.

“Don’t… don’t make her out to be a monster just because she might not feel the same way about you, Francis.” She continued softly. “I know it… probably hurts.”

“Stop saying things like you know me.” Francis growled. “You don’t know me, you obviously don’t know her, the only people you know are the friends that you’ve dragged us along to help find for you. We’re just the ‘temporary’ allies, isn’t that right? We’re the throwaway help because you can’t be assed to care about us either. But you’re nothing on your own, so you need us. We’re here to help you, but nothing else. So don’t pretend you know what I'm feeling.” He stood up and stepped toward her.

Asuka was silent for a moment, then glared at him. “Don’t pretend that my friend is a liar, then.” He was being stubborn, not wanting to admit his motivations or his feelings.

“It’s not my fault you’re too goddamned blind to see it! She- she isn’t who she says she is, she wouldn’t be acting this way if she was.” Asuka closed her eyes as he continued, “-she’s a liar, she’s a demon, and she’s going to end up hurting us all, me especially, and it’ll be your fault for not listening to me! Why can’t you just trust me on this, you deluded little kid?”

“Francis, get out.”

“What?” He took a step back, staring incredulously at Asuka.

“You heard me. Get out.” Asuka repeated. Her mind was cold and blank, fed up with his rattling. If he wasn’t going to listen, that wasn’t going to be her problem.

“But I-“

“You’re accusing my friend of being a liar and just backing yourself up with insults, of all things. Let me remind you, Marina saved me from the Dark Curse, and got possessed in my stead. You unleashed the Dark Curse in the first place due to your own selfish desires. I think I trust her a bit more than I trust you. I thought you were going to help us this time, Francis.” Asuka was bubbling with rage and astonishment, hurt from Francis’ accusation.

Tears were brimming in the man’s eyes, and he clenched his fists again. “I- I…”

“You’re just jealous, that’s it!” Asuka continued, “You’re upset that she doesn’t pay nearly as much attention to you as you want from her! You’re upset that she’s the one who’s the most helpful, while all you’ve got is bananas and a handful of rocks! Even being a cleric hasn’t helped you grow up, and you’re the same Dark Lord you always have been!”

Francis’ expression was unreadable. “Take that back.”

Asuka didn’t respond, looking away.

“Take that back!” Francis repeated.

Asuka just pointed to the door.

His eyes widened, and he stood, swinging his staff upwards to bring it down on Asuka’s head- but then he hesitated, tears flowing down his cheeks. “Fine. Be that way.” He turned and stomped toward the door, and opened it, walking through and slamming it shut behind him. A few moments later, and Asuka heard the inn door slam as well.

She got up, and walked out of her room. Matthew was standing in the hallway, looking confused.

“Where’s he going?!” Matthew sputtered. 

“Don’t know, don’t care.” She huffed. “He was being a di- he was being rude to Marina and yelling nasty things at me.”

“So you-”

“I kicked him out.”

Matthew’s expression shifted- as if a tornado of emotion was swirling inside him and he had no idea what he was actually feeling. He leaned on the wall, taking a deep breath. “Oh… oh my god, okay… okay…”

“Matthew…? Are you alright?” Asuka sidled next to him. Matthew shook his head. “What’s… what’s on your mind?”

“I mean I just… I thought I’d be able to talk to him- I thought we’d get to…”

“Get to what- Matthew, what’s going on?”

“I needed to- I needed to…” He was mumbling, his words slurring together. He was breathing fast, sliding down the wall. 

“Matthew- Matthew, stay with me. You’re going to be fine, deep breaths, deep breaths…” Asuka was worried, biting her lip and fretting over the boy. “In, out. In, out.” She tried to help him, and Matthew’s breathing slowly returned to normal, his body relaxing.

“Okay… okay…” He swallowed hard, then looked at Asuka. His eyes were full of… pain? She wasn’t sure. Remorse, maybe- or anger.

“What’s… do you wanna talk about it?” 

Matthew nodded slowly, before speaking. “Alexander.” The boy slumped his shoulders.

“Alexander? Who’s that- what?” 

Matthew raised a hand to shush her. “My birth name is Alexander. F-Francis… he’s… well, he’s my dad. But… he doesn’t remember me, or leaving me- so- so- he- he’s nothing to me, now.” He had said it so nonchalantly that it took a moment for Asuka to register what the boy had said.

Asuka tried to keep herself from gasping, slapping a hand over her mouth. Francis, of all people, was a deadbeat dad. Well, it made sense, all things considered… she just felt bad for Matthew. “Well. If I ever call you Alexander by mistake… just call me Blake.” She smiled mischievously, before patting his back. “It’s going to be okay, kid. I promise.”

“I know…” He sniffed. “I just wanted to show him I was better than he was- that I actually was stronger than him, even. I wanted to talk to him, to tell him what he did to me… I wanted to be happier than him.”

“I mean, you are.” She shrugged.

“You think so…?”

Asuka nodded. “Yeah, you’re pretty strong for a kid. Besides. You’ve still got your whole life ahead of you, as royalty, no less.”

“I just… I had hoped he’d remember me, but it seems… being the Dark Lord, back then… it affected his mind. I felt it even now… something’s weird about him.”

“Weird…?”

Matthew nodded. “Like he’s on edge… like something’s nagging at him or… that he isn’t really what he says he is. I can’t honestly believe he’d join your little quest just for your sake.”

“...alright…” She sighed. “Sorry for kicking him out so suddenly.”

Matthew shook his head. “It’s for the best, you did what you needed to do, I guess. Answers aren’t as important as staying safe.”

Asuka nodded, giving the boy a quick hug. “Thanks for understanding.”

The door to the inn opened and shut again, and the sage walked in, stopping and staring at Matthew and Asuka on the floor.

“Oh goodness- what… what happened…?” Marina looked almost heartbroken, and Asuka just felt her resentment toward the ex-Dark Lord grow stronger. “I saw Francis running out into the wastes, is he okay-?”

“I kicked him out. He was just going to cause more problems.”

“Kicked him out?” Marina’s lip trembled, but she bit it and nodded. “I’ll… trust your judgement.” She walked over to their shared room and went to the window, resting her elbows on the frame. “I think… I need some time alone.”

“Some time- time for…”

“Thinking, and… focusing. I’m sorry, Asuka, I just…” She took a deep breath. “I need some time to process this.”

Asuka balled up her fists, looking down at the floor. “I’m… sorry too….?” She was hesitant, her voice wavering. She had thought she was protecting Marina- protecting all of them from a crazy Francis.

“I forgive you.” Marina responded, before falling back into silence.

Hands on her shoulders made Asuka jolt back, before turning and staring up at the eldest fairy.

“Asuka… you did the right thing. I sensed… dark magic coming off of him. I don’t know from what, but… you did the right thing.” Kaela folded her hands together, sighing. “I’m sure he’ll be fine eventually… but for now, we’ll be fine as we are.”

“Yeah, it’s fine that he’s gone.” Matthew had jolted back into a bitter sense of righteousness, having stood back up- he was sort of like his father, in that way. “He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.” 

She gave a nod, crossing her arms. “Right…. okay.”

“We’ll be strong together.” Kaela said. “I promise.” She nodded to Asuka. “I’d get some rest… do you want to sleep in my room tonight, to give…” She looked to Marina, who seemed to be unhearing the conversation, “...her some space…?”

Asuka nodded. “I’d appreciate that, yes…” She followed the elf to her room at the inn, and quickly curled up in the spare bed. “Thank you, Kaela…” She murmured, closing her eyes and starting to drift off to sleep.

“It’s the least I can do. It’s all going to be alright, Asuka.”

“...okay.” She didn’t believe her.

~~~

“Well, actually, Asuka...” Francine gave her a slight frown, shifting her feet nervously.

“Francine? What is it?” She tilted her head, unsure of what her friend wanted to tell her. She had mentioned wanting to get something off of her chest back when they were getting ready to face the Darker Lord, and now the warrior had pulled her aside to chat.

“…Did I ever tell you about how I ended up in Greenhorne?” Francine asked, to which Asuka just shook her head. “Well… I ran away from home. Away from my family over in the frontier… you see, they- my parents, they wanted me to grow up and sort of… take care of them and the home when they got older, while my brother aspired to explore and adventure. I… ended up adopting his dream, as well, and then I got a bit… well, I wasn’t a good fit to take care of them anymore, not at that point.” She gave a slight sigh, showing a different side to herself than she ever had before, one of a lost and remorseful child. “My parents were against it, obviously… so I just… left. I ran away from home, out to Neksdor, actually… I went back to visit after a few months. By then, they’d…” She trailed off, obviously uncomfortable with the next part of the story.

“…what had happened?” Asuka urged her to continue.

“They’d sent my brother off to work. In a factory, of all things… he couldn’t go forward with his dream because I took it from him. But, you see… my brother… I couldn’t tell you this before things all got resolved for a reason. Promise you- promise you won’t throw a fit?”

“I- I promise!”

“I- I’m… I’m related to… evil. He’s… he’s the one who… who started all this. It’s Francis, the former Dark Lord himself. He’s my older brother.”

~~~


	9. Distrust and Deceit

Asuka’s night was filled with tossing and turning, her restless bouts of sleepless fits the only noise in the room. Guilt and confusion filled any moments where she did sleep, and nightmares of a broken family- a broken home, a broken world- echoed in deep accusations that sunk into her subconscious.

As morning light drifted lazily into the room, she sat up, feeling the ache in her eyelids as her body yearned for a sleep that would not reach her. Her arms, legs, everything felt off- felt unrested. Well, at least she was alive- the pain made sure of that. She looked over to the other bed, and remembered she hadn’t slept in Marina’s room- she’d slept in Kaela’s.

She sighed, yesterday’s memories sticking out in her mind, like withered flowers in a field of pristine blossoms. She was conflicted over her decision to kick Francis out- sure, he’d been on some weird rant about Marina, but the sage hadn’t wanted him out… it would have been better to keep talking things out, but she didn’t let that happen.

The elder fairy was still fast asleep, looking elegant even as she let out a loud snore. Asuka crept out of the room, looking down the hallway for any sign of the others. She let her shoulders relax, running a hand through the tangled mats in her hair as she took the silence as indication that everyone else was still asleep.

That’s why, when she turned a corner and saw Marina, robe cast aside, staring intently out the window, wings spread almost like an enormous flag, Asuka gave a slight squeak of surprise. The woman turned at the sound, her wings folding back up. “Asuka- you’re awake, I see…” Marina’s voice was low… Asuka could swear she heard disappointment in the sage’s tone, but she hoped her assumption was wrong.

“Marina, I-”

“Shh.” Marina held up a hand, then gestured with her free one to the window. “Come over here, quickly now.”

Asuka hurried over, peering out as she pressed her face to the glass. “What’s… what are we looking at?”

Marina traced a finger up until she pointed to the rising sun. “Isn’t it beautiful…?” Her voice was soft, almost fragile and delicate, as her bright pink eyes seemed to sparkle from the light’s reflection. “I’ve… never seen a morning like this… it feels… hopeful.” 

Asuka gave a low ‘ooh’, watching as the sky was lit with the blossoming warm rays. “It’s very pretty.” She wasn’t sure what else to say- it was just a sunrise, it didn’t seem ‘special’ to her. She’d watched the sun rise time and time and time again… probably at this very spot. But if Marina felt it was special… then maybe it was.

They remained in silence for a beat, connected by the sunrise and through what had brought them to this point. It felt almost serene, if not for the issues that plagued their minds. It felt like a storm was brewing, threatening to overtake and shadow the sunrise that Marina so hoped on. The waves of fear and uncertainty made it impossible for Asuka to truly relax.

“I know you’re still worried about yesterday.” The sage spoke up suddenly, turning to Asuka. “I’m sorry that you had to go through that… with all that pressure on your shoulders to make a decision.” 

Asuka was about to protest, when Marina’s wings wrapped around her in a soft embrace. She nuzzled into the feathers, not realizing how much she’d needed such comfort. A strained cry left her throat, as she hugged the sage back. 

“I just don’t know what’s right… I don’t know what to do.” She mumbled, burying her face in Marina’s robe. She sniffled, her body beginning to tremble. “I want to do what’s right but I don’t- I can’t just… I thought he- h- He-”

“Shh, shh… it’s okay, it’s okay.” Marina cooed softly, running a hand through the shorter girl’s hair, her other gently rubbing her back. “You did what you thought you needed to… even if I don’t agree, I’ll trust your judgement. Francis will be fine… he’s a smart man. He’s survived worse, frankly…”

“If you say so- I just- I kicked him out! If he gets hurt or worse, that’s my fault!”

“No, noo… no, it’s not… you know he’d come back if he was in danger.” Marina’s voice was soft- but Asuka could sense a tension. The sage didn’t even believe herself, maybe.

“You know that’s not true, he’s so stubborn…” She choked out.

“Well, he’ll be fine. He… he has to be.” Asuka felt Marina’s embrace tighten, squeezing her a bit. “I need him. I need him to be fine.” She let her body relax in the woman’s grasp, not wanting to resist or struggle, and end up worrying her more.

“Okay…” She whispered, understanding that Marina wasn’t just reassuring her- she was reassuring herself. “He will be…”

“...what did he say to you?” Marina murmured. “I can’t figure out why he’d turn on me like that…”

“He… didn’t trust you…” 

“Didn’t trust me?” She paled, tensing. “I can’t imagine why… we were always so close, why would he just… lose that faith in me?”

“He said you threatened and hit him.” Asuka’s voice was barely above a whisper, as if she herself couldn’t believe what she was saying. At her words, Marina let go and leaned out of the hug.

“No… no, that’s… I never did anything like that, why would he…” Her gaze became unfocused, as she stared at nothing. “I can’t understand why he would…” She took a few steps back.

“Ah- we- I'm sure there's an explanation for this-” Asuka tried to find words, waving her hands to try to calm Marina down.

“No, it's… there isn't. I don't… how…” She put her hands to her head, taking a deep breath. “Tell me, Asuka… do you… do you fear me?” 

Asuka made a face, startled by the question. Fear Marina? No, why would she ever? There was only one time- “-only when you’re evil.” Oh, great, she’d spoken that thought aloud.

Marina laughed. “Well, I’d fear me too… those were truly some darker times…” She blushed slightly, realizing the pun in her wording, then she let out another laugh, a bit more hysterical. “I mean, what was Maiche thinking with those names? Dark, Darker, Darkest- what was supposed to come after that? They’re so silly sometimes…” Her eyes betrayed the sorrow she felt, remembering those days.

“Well, you’re both reformed now, aren’t you? So… bright, brighter, brightest!” Asuka said, grinning.

Marina blinked for a moment, taking in what the thief had said, then laughed. “Oh, Asuka, you dork…” She smiled back, giving a deep sigh. “Honestly though… I kind of miss that… presence.”

“Presence?” Asuka tilted her head to the side, unsure what she meant.

“The magic, Asuka!” Marina’s eyes lit up with childlike glee. “I was so strong as the Darker Lord… yeah, it was awful, what I had to do… but the power-” She stopped, looking guilty.

“You liked it?” The words hung in the air, a small, confused question.

“Well, I must say, I do like the idea of feeling powerful… both for my own sake and for that of others that I can help.” Marina wouldn’t meet Asuka’s eyes, looking to the side. “I- I honestly didn’t like the destruction and pain… only the… the power, Asuka. The magic.”

“...okay.” Asuka decided to change the subject. “Marina…” She was taking a gamble with this, and her heart ached at the uncertainty- at the possibilities- but she needed to know. “Remember, back in Neksdor, when Prince Mikeal tried to fight me for that lamp, and you helped me?”

The sage’s eyes flickered with confusion, before she gave a slow nod. “Yes- right, I do remember… why bring that up now?”

Asuka’s confidence wavered, as she fought to scramble for words. “Oh, I was just thinking… about the past and all that. About how much you’ve helped and saved me… how that means you can’t… be a bad person. Or evil, or any of that- not that I would’ve thought you were...”

“Well, I had to step in to help, you’re my friend…”

Asuka bit her lip, racking her mind for more. She had to make sure this was actually… happening. “He called me all those mean names… so I’m glad you told him off-”

“Right, right, well, like I said, I won’t stand for any injustices.” Marina seemed all too eager to agree with the words- the lies- spilling past Asuka’s lips.

“It’s a good thing everything turned out well, with the genie and all… but too bad with the whole sheriff’s office incident…” She didn’t even know what she was trying to imply anymore, and Marina’s cheery, unfazed expression just sent shivers up her spine.

“Yes, it truly was a shame… but there’s always losses in life.” She was smiling so widely, so brightly, her eyes wide and unblinking like those of an owl.

Suddenly, it didn’t feel if Asuka was in the inn anymore. She was back- at the Dark Lord’s castle, her back against the hard stone tile as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. Rikuto, Francine, Kazuo- they were beside her, aghast in horror. Katsuye, Monica, Melanie- they were guarding the windows, while Natsuki, Akiko, and Haruko guarded the doors, Francis was off somewhere nearby, hiding- but they were all looking at this. This. This horrifying sight.

The twirling deep blue locks of Marina’s new horrifying image bounced as the Darker Lord laughed, relishing in their power, twirling their staff and sending tremors through the earth at the slightest wave of their hand. Then, they grinned down at the adventurers, eyes wide and teeth sharp. It was the same grin- it looked like the same grin-

The same grin she would see again, trembling as she stared up, up, up- the Darkest Lord’s face took up the entirety of her vision. There wasn’t anything else she could see except Marina, and that ghastly smile that threatened the whole of the world she loved and lived in. She heard that boisterous, monstrous laugh that echoed to her very core, ringing in her ears and shaking the crumbling ground of the Otherworld. Her friends- so many of them were gone, reduced to blank, fearful faces so haphazardly plastered onto the coins that floated around the titanic woman.

Francine had a hand on Asuka’s shoulder, and Kazuo was holding strong by her side. Rikuto was behind, but he wasn’t hiding, his staff raised in preparation should healing be needed. Asuka felt the immense pressure of the entire world’s fate resting on her shoulders- her and her friends, who’d fought so hard to get this far. They couldn’t give up now, they couldn’t let up now, they couldn’t fail now. They had to win this.

That smile dared to say that they wouldn’t. As it brought them to their knees, battered, bruised, bleeding- and on the edge of death. But not even that would stop them. Asuka remembered, almost hurling the jar of sprinkles at Rikuto so hard he fumbled to catch it and heal himself. She remembered Kazuo shouting spells at the top of his lungs, flames whose heat rivaled that of the sun- at least in symbolism. She remembered Francine, taking out each coin as it appeared, freeing the rest of their friends. She remembered her final strike, lunging and smacking the Marina that wasn’t Marina right in her sick grin. She remembered… fear.

Asuka was back in the inn, and she backed away from Marina. The sun was now high in the sky by now, they’d been talking for what had seemed like moments, but had been hours. The light that shone through the window illuminated confusion on the sage’s face.

“Asuka? Are you alright?”

Asuka didn’t answer, as she lunged for Marina. Letting out a shriek, the short girl wrapped her arms and legs around the woman as she started to scream and pound on her back, holding on with one hand as she tried to hit with the other. 

Marina, more than a little surprised by the sudden attack, had stumbled backwards, hitting the windowsill- her wings opened from the shock, breaking through the glass with a loud shatter. Shards clattered to the floor, hitting the two ladies as they dropped as well.

Asuka, for her diminutive stature and pathetic strength, wasn’t going to let up. She planted her legs down on Marina’s arms, kneeing her biceps in an attempt to keep the sage in place as she furiously continued punching weakly at the woman’s torso.

Marina struggled only slightly, still caught up in the shock of Asuka’s sudden attack. “Get off of me!” She shouted, but she didn’t do anything that could hurt the smaller thief. Fear, betrayal, and confusion all accumulated in her eyes, as she did nothing but watch as her friend tried to hurt her.

Asuka, on the other hand, pushed and punched and yelled at the top of her lungs, fueled by adrenaline, panic, and some twisted idea of right and wrong. “You’re a liar, you’re a liar, you aren’t Marina! Give Marina back! Give Marina back! Francis was right, Francis was right!”

Tears welled in the sage’s eyes, but all Asuka saw was the horrible visions of the evil entity that had once taken that face. Asuka screamed, her hands clasping around Marina’s neck, fingers digging into her feathers as she leaned down and shrieked into her face. Blinded by rage, by fear, by something even worse than the both of those- Asuka tightened her grip around the sage’s neck.

It was then that Marina fought back.

Her enormous wings slammed against the inn floor, cracking the wooden boards as she hauled herself up from the force of the impact. She knocked Asuka’s legs away, leaving the girl to hang as she continued to claw at Marina’s neck. She reached her arms up to peel the hands off of her throat, and dropped Asuka like a sack of potatoes once she had freed herself. The sage bent over, taking in deep breaths as she wheezed to regain her air.

But Asuka wasn’t done. Scrambling to her knees, she lunged and scooped up a shard of glass from the window, giving another yell as she dug the makeshift blade deep into Marina’s leg- to which the woman screeched in pain, trying to get away. Blood splattered the inn floor as the shard came loose. 

Marina backed away from Asuka, falling to one knee as she held her bleeding leg. “Asuka, stop this!” She shouted, desperate. All she could do was defend herself.

Her pleas fell on deaf ears as Asuka raised the shard again and ran to tackle Marina. This time, the glass ripped down her arm, as another howl of pain ripped through the air. They both fell down in a tangle of limbs and rage and fear, as Asuka tried to latch onto Marina and continue her assault.

“What the hell is going on in here?!” Matthew’s voice caused Asuka to pale, as the glass slipped out of her hand, cracking back onto the floor. She wrapped her arms around Marina, eyes wide as she refused to look away from the sage.

“Get her off of me, she-” Marina bit her lip, not wanting to reveal what happened.

“She’s a monster!” Asuka yelled, breathing heavily. She’d exerted too much of her energy, and Matthew’s intrusion had shocked some of her fears out of her- brought her closer to reality.

“Asuka, let go of her!” Kaela ran over and pried her off of Marina, holding her tightly in place.

“No, no, no, s-something’s… something might be wrong- I can’t be sure, but- but our memories- her memories...” She mumbled, struggling in Kaela’s grip.

“Francis was affected after the whole curse thing. Your sage is probably in the same situation.” Matthew grumbled. “You can’t kick out the strongest member of our group after you just kicked out the weakest…” The boy was visibly tense, trembling and upset by the scene of one appearing to attack the other.

“Asuka, please listen… I know you’re upset, and I know you’re scared. What Francis said… it made you doubt me. But it’ll be okay- we’re going to save everyone, and then all will be alright. For all of us- even him.” Marina got up slowly, casting a spell to patch up her wounds- the rips and bloodstains in the fabric of her clothes remained, but the pain seemed to subside.

“B...but…” Asuka trembled, tears welling in her eyes as her emotions bubbled to a boil. She didn’t know who to trust- didn’t know what to believe- all she knew was that she was scared.

“No buts! Calm down!” Matthew exclaimed, visibly getting fed up with the girl.

Asuka didn’t take that very well, bursting into sobs. “No, no no no no! I don’t want this! I don’t want any of this! I don’t want to be out here, I don’t want to be with any of you, I don’t want to be scared, I don’t want to have to do this! I want to be back with my real friends, not some ragtag group of misfits!”

“Asuka!” Matthew threw his arms in the air, “-what is wrong with you?”

Kaela didn’t respond, but Asuka felt the fairy tense from her outburst, which only made the thief cry harder. “I just wanna go hooooome- I wanna stop fighting, I wanna stop worrying, I wanna stop doing all of thiiiiiis-”

“It’s alright, Asuka. Just  _ sleep tight. _ ” Marina murmured, casting a spell that made Asuka feel woozy, like her whole world was falling into a nice, marshmallowly soft… warm… haze..

“N…no, w-wai…” She tried to speak, her words dying as she dozed off, slipping out of Kaela’s arms and falling to the floor.

“Is… is she okay? What happened?” Matthew said, turning to Marina.

“I think it’s the stress of losing her friends again… all that pressure just made her snap, when coupled with Francis’ accusations... But a little rest will do her good! She should be just fine in the morning. I’ll put her to bed, you two get some rest yourselves.” Marina said, giving a warm smile.

“Did she hurt you?” Kaela pressed for information.

“No.” Marina was very clear, the look in her eyes that of utter clarity. “It was an accident. Now, I need some rest… if you two are going to keep up, there’s plenty of daylight left.”

“Okay… sleep well.” Matthew seemed nervous, but he trusted the sage, so he turned and went to his room, likely to prepare for some sort of training.

“...Marina, are you sure she’s not perhaps…” Kaela trailed off, unspoken words hanging in the air like glass, ready to shatter the peace.

Marina turned to look back to the small woman, breathing gently as she slept. “I… won’t rule it out just yet. But I will not assume as much… not when she’s this determined to get them back.” She leaned down and lifted Asuka into her arms- the young redhead was rather light, feeling fragile, like a doll. Marina gave a sigh. “The pressure’s gotten to her. That’s why she needs us, all of us… more than ever.”

Kaela nodded, crossing her arms. “Of course… I just worry- not only for her sake, but for the rest of them… from what you’ve told me.”

Marina ran a hand through Asuka’s hair, trying to smooth it down- it had bushed out like a frightened cat’s fur in the commotion. “I know… you’ve always been a worrywart, Kaela.” She smiled gently at the fairy. “I trust your intuition, so we’ll be cautious. But for now, I think we both need a good night’s sleep. It’s been a long day… er, morning.”

Kaela blinked slowly, giving a not-so-graceful yawn. “I suppose you’re right. Goodnight, Marina- I’ll see what Matthew and I can do in the meantime, to keep preparing for that trip out to the castle… which I assume is postponed to tomorrow.” She then turned and walked down the hall, entering her room.

Marina looked back down at the girl in her arms. “Come on, sweetie… let’s get you all tucked in.” She carried Asuka to their room, and gently set her down in her bed, draping the covers over her form- which seemed almost frail, like this. Marina thought for a moment, of the sorrow and anxieties that filled the adventurer. The girl had lost her closest friends- and not for the first time, either. She had always been so full of energy and pep and passion and excitement- but seeing her like this… sleeping, vulnerable… it spoke to a softer side. A scared, lonely girl, who didn’t want to lose what she’d worked so hard to gain.

The sage sat down in her bed, looking out the window. The sun was still traveling through the sky… the moon would be out, eventually. A full moon. It brought back memories. She’d never told the story of her past to anyone- not even her apprentice. Of how she got her power, and how she’d become… the way she was.

The full moon brought nothing but trouble. Memories, remorse… and a reminder of those she’d slain in her lust and greed for power. So much for a great sage… if she couldn’t even stop from hurting people.

She could forgive Asuka’s past misdeeds. No one was perfect- and at least Asuka hadn’t succeeded in killing her friend, she supposed. If only she herself had been that lucky… she took a deep breath, not wanting to berate herself for the umpteenth time of her childish whims. She was still making up for her mistakes, still working to better the world. They all were, in their own way. Matthew, Kaela, Asuka… Francis. Maiche. Marina. 

The world was at peace, or at least, it almost was. So… what had disrupted it all?

The bird woman stretched her wings, then curled up in bed. They’d discover the truth, sooner or later. But for now, she needed her own sleep.

\-------------

Asuka woke up slowly, taking in a gentle breath. The first thing she noticed- the moon shining through the window. It was the middle of the night… so she at least got some sleep through Marina’s spell. The events of the day came flooding back into her mind.

She… needed to apologize to Marina. She’d let Francis get to her, instill doubt in her… it had probably just been a slip of the mind. After all, the “Great Sage” couldn’t possibly remember everything she did perfectly… that’d just be unreasonable. Besides, she’d been tired and stressed… she shouldn’t snapped like she did. 

She’d hurt her friend, and she’d made an awful, awful mistake. The least she could do was say sorry, right? Her mind wandered for a moment to all the other times she’d wronged a friend… and all of those times in which she’d stayed silent. Let the other get over it, standing her own ground… for better or for worse.

She slowly slumped herself out of the bed, folding over the sheets. She rubbed at her eyes as she stood up, and stared over at Marina’s bed. “She’s… not there?” She thought aloud. Where… where had Marina gone? She hadn’t gotten hurt or something, had she…? Of course not, that would just be-

She didn’t remember what she’d done, now that she thought about it. She only remembered an angry, panicked haze- and Marina’s hurt expression. Had… had she really done something awful? She couldn’t place it, but it felt as if even her memories were tainted… shadowed by something that didn’t want her to think on them.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway and Asuka scrambled back into her bed. The door creaked open, a dim red glow shining into the room, basking the empty bed in crimson. A figure leaned into the room, then out, and as it passed, so did the light. Asuka felt petrified… there was something about that light that reminded her of… of a Fiend, or something…

Was that… Marina? No… no. She didn’t want to doubt her friend, but… she didn’t want to risk anything if it came down to danger. Even if it wasn’t Marina… Marina wasn’t in bed, and there was already mounting evidence that something was wrong… no, but that was just lies, too- Marina didn’t need to be in bed. Marina was fine, Marina was fine- Marina was her friend. Francis was her friend. She… she could trust both- even if both of them had different opinions on what the hell was happening, but-

She suddenly felt an eerily familiar feeling. The same that she’d felt once- no, twice before. When she had looked into the eyes of the Darker… and later, Darkest Lord. Marina… as such a being of pure malice and evil- even if Maiche was along for the ride. The sage had admitted that she liked being powerful, hadn’t she? So what if… what if this was all-

No, no no no! These thoughts were the same thoughts that had sent her into that haze of… nothingness. She couldn’t let them overwhelm her- she couldn’t let them hurt her friends. So… what was she to do?

Asuka was scared. She was honestly scared of confronting anyone, scared of facing anyone, scared of doing the wrong thing. So she did what any person would do in this situation. She opened the window, climbed out, and ran, out into the wastes of Karkaton. She kept running, just going, and going. She needed to find someone, needed to find someone who could help her, someone who could help ground her and get back to her senses and calm.

As she ran, she felt more and more like she was acting irrational. She was just too on edge, just too overwhelmed, and she’d made assumptions about her friends, believed that her friends would be working against her.  She’d kept making all these mistakes, rushing into everything that she did because she was so paranoid that she was going to lose people. But that paranoia was just driving more and more people away- and hindering her only chances of seeing her friends again.

She was turning on her friends. The people that had helped her this far. The people that she cared for and loved and had fought for. What had driven her to this? This panic, this pain, this paranoia… this darkness that ate her up inside like a wave of unrelenting fear. She kept running.

The heat of the stones beneath her feet became all more apparent as her shoes crunched against the volcanic rock. Her body ached for rest and for her to stop- but she kept running. It was all she knew she could do. It was all she felt she had the right to do. She felt alone, she felt stupid, she felt like she did nothing but continue to make mistakes.

Guilt began to wash over her, and in her loss of concentration she almost didn’t see Francis, off in the near distance. When she spotted him, she felt angry, then guilty again. She’d kicked him out just for being cautious and paranoid- even if he was making a fuss like that- she shouldn’t have kicked him out into such dangerous conditions. It didn’t look like he was dealing well with it, either. He was sitting down, hugging his knees to his chest, facing away from her.

“Francis!” Asuka shouted, running up behind him, still in a panic despite her doubts about her own thoughts. “You were right, you were right, you were right, please help me!” He didn’t respond, didn’t even turn to look at her. “Francis, please… I’m sorry for what I said back there. I just- I’m scared, alright? I c-can’t do this on my own, and I thought… I’m sorry for doubting you! Now please… please… help me set things right.” He still didn’t respond, rather, curling up tighter into a shivering ball. “F-Francis…?” Asuka walked around to look into his face.

Or rather she would have, if he still had one.


End file.
